Further update, November 12: France 24 and CNA have since reported the meeting’s outcome — Putin signaled no compromise on Russia’s hardline demands while offering a short-term ceasefire in a key frontline city. This desk’s report: https://thelibraryestate.com/putin-signals-no-compromise-on-ukraine-demands-but-offers-short-term-frontline-ceasefire-reports-say/
The Library Media — National & World · World Desk
Kushner and Witkoff to Travel to Moscow for Talks With Putin on Prisoner-Release Numbers
By Maya Wilson
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Update, November 12: The meeting has taken place. NPR reported that Kushner and Witkoff met President Putin in the Kremlin, and Bernama, carrying the Russian news agency TASS, reported that the meeting had concluded. No outcome from the talks was included in that reporting. Separately, NBC News reported Kushner saying Russia and Ukraine had agreed on a large-scale prisoner exchange, which this desk covered on November 11.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are due to travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Ukrinform reported.
Ukrinform reported that Kushner said he would make the trip alongside Witkoff, another special envoy of President Donald Trump.
Anadolu reported that the purpose of the Moscow visit is to finalize the numbers for what Kushner called the “biggest humanitarian release of prisoners.”
The planned trip follows trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia. Those talks discussed the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving up to 1,500 prisoners per side, according to earlier reporting covered by the desk.
No agreement on such an exchange was announced, however, and no prisoner release has been agreed or carried out on the reporting available so far.
Kushner, speaking after the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, said: “We see some openings and some opportunities.”
The discussions over prisoner numbers are therefore continuing, with the Moscow meeting intended to address the figures associated with a possible release rather than to announce a completed agreement.
The second day of the Abu Dhabi talks ended with the delegations expected to issue separate statements, according to the earlier reporting. The available accounts do not establish that a final prisoner-release agreement has been reached ahead of Thursday’s planned visit to Moscow.
— Maya Wilson, World Desk
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