Putin aide comments on Kushner’s role in Ukraine talks
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could play a key role in drafting a Ukraine peace deal, top Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said following high-stakes Russia-US talks in Moscow.
Kushner joined US special envoy Steve Witkoff in negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week which lasted five hours, and which centered on a US-backed proposal to end the Ukraine conflict.
The initial 28-point version of the plan, which was leaked to the media last month, required Kiev to relinquish parts of Russia’s Donbass region still under Ukrainian control, pledge not to join NATO, and cut the size of its armed forces.
Moscow has since said it accepts some elements of the US proposal but rejects others, adding that a final compromise has not been reached yet and that “much work” remains on the text.
In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Friday, Ushakov described the atmosphere at the Kremlin meeting as “constructive and friendly,” noting that Putin has now met with Witkoff six times. “They understand each other almost without words,” he said.
Kushner’s participation, Ushakov noted, “turned out to be very timely.”
“He added an element of systematization… I personally believe that if a settlement is drafted on paper, then the one holding the pen, to a large extent, will be Mr. Kushner.”
Kushner, a real estate investor, served as a senior adviser in Trump’s first administration, with a portfolio that included Middle East policy and domestic priorities. He was a central architect of the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and which were later joined by Morocco and Sudan.
Although Kushner does not have a formal position in the White House, he has continued to play a role in Middle East affairs, including negotiating a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
