U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir Putin / The envoys will also hold talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to meet on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin, as part of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The meetings come after talks in Abu Dhabi, the first direct discussions between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since February. They ended without major progress, with the only concrete outcome being an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange.

Jared Kushner announced that the exchange could become the largest humanitarian operation of its kind during the conflict. The exact number of prisoners is to be determined on Thursday. Volodymyr Zelensky had previously proposed arrangements such as “1,000 for 1,000” or even “1,500 for 1,500.”

The Ukrainian president hopes the negotiations will lead to a ceasefire by the end of the year. However, the head of Kyiv’s delegation, Rustem Umerov, warned that differences between Moscow and Kyiv remain significant, including over Europe’s role in the negotiations.

Moscow is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire Donetsk region, while Kyiv rejects the demand and is calling for firm security guarantees to prevent another Russian attack.