US ENVOYS TO MEET PUTIN IN MOSCOW—THEN BRIEF ZELENSKYY IN DUBLIN
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Moscow on November 12 for talks with Vladimir Putin before flying to Dublin to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The sequence represents the next stage of shuttle diplomacy following two difficult days of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi. The first meeting lasted more than four hours, while the second concluded after approximately two.
Davyd Arakhamia said the Russian delegation arrived with strict instructions and was difficult to move. Despite this, the negotiations produced an agreement in principle on what could become one of the war’s largest prisoner exchanges.
After hearing Putin’s position, the American envoys will brief Zelenskyy and determine whether enough common ground exists to schedule another negotiating round.
“We have good momentum to find a solution before the New Year,” Arakhamia said.
But we have heard these words before. Washington has repeatedly spoken of momentum, progress and an approaching agreement, while Putin continues making demands that Ukraine surrender territory Russia has failed to capture.
The battlefield is also changing. Ukrainian forces around Lyman are pushing Russian units eastward toward the Zherebets River, threatening to trap exposed positions against a natural barrier. Russia is suffering extraordinary casualties for limited gains, and its army is no longer the unstoppable iron fist the Kremlin presents to the world.
Momentum is not peace, and meetings are not concessions. The Moscow visit will show whether Putin is prepared to adjust his demands to battlefield reality—or whether Russia intends to use another diplomatic round to buy time while continuing the war.