US asks Russia to draft new Europe security deal as Kushner heads to Moscow

The Trump administration has asked Moscow to draft a fresh blueprint for European security — one that spells out not just what Russia wants, but what it's willing to give back, according to axios.com. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will hand the request straight to Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The envoys also want Putin to let European representatives into the next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, a U.S. official said.

From Moscow, Kushner and Witkoff are expected to fly to Dublin for a Thursday-night meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. The push follows two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi that wrapped Wednesday — the first time Ukrainian and Russian officials had sat with U.S. mediators since February, when the sessions were suspended over the war in Iran. Kushner, Witkoff and Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. European Command, ran the mediation.

The room was tense. Both delegations aired nine months of pent-up grievances, with Kushner and Witkoff working to cool things down and steer the talks toward options for their leaders. "We had pretty tough discussions," Kushner told a press conference. Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia was blunter: "The Russians came with strict directives. It was very hard to soften it, but it ended productively."

The parties did agree to a prisoner exchange that Kushner and Arakhamia said could be the biggest since the war began. U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the exact number will be settled during Thursday's meetings with Putin and Zelensky. Before and after the Abu Dhabi sessions, the U.S. and Ukrainian teams briefed senior diplomats from Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the EU and NATO.

Russian negotiators argued Putin launched the invasion because then-President Biden never answered his 2021 letter on security concerns, the sources said. Kushner and Witkoff countered that the world has changed since then, and proposed Russia draft a proposal containing its demands plus the "symmetrical steps" it would take to de-escalate and reassure Europe it won't attack again. "We told the Russians, they have their desires and fears, but they have to provide different de-escalation and different proposals as well, if they want Europe to be able to receive those proposals in a good way," Kushner said.

Moscow's delegation chief, Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, wasn't sold on letting Europeans in. He accused the leaders of several European countries of "collective deception of the Ukrainian people" and said, "I don't understand what can be discussed with them." Still, he said Russia wants a broader security deal as part of ending the war: "In Ukraine, an abscess has simply burst. The entire body needs to be treated — a Band-Aid won't do the trick." European diplomats say there's heavy resistance to a Russia-Europe security arrangement, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe will only discuss a new architecture once the war in Ukraine ends. Security will top the agenda at a European leaders' summit in Dublin later this week.