US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, Axios reported.
The two are expected to reiterate US President Donald Trump's request that Russia submit a proposal for a new security agreement with Europe. The agreement would include steps to ease tensions between Russia and the rest of Europe, sources told Axios.
The US has previously rejected Russian demands for a security deal that would scale back NATO military presence in Eastern Europe, however, it appears to be more open to the demands as Trump attempts to support ending the Russia-Ukraine war, the report added.
Nonetheless, according to Axios, many European governments don't trust the Trump administration's approach to such an agreement.
After they meet Putin, Kushner and Witkoff are expected to travel to Dublin, Ireland, where they will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday night, Axios said.
Russian, Ukrainian peace talks mediated by US made positive progress
Earlier this week, Russian and Ukrainian officials met with US mediators in Abu Dhabi, for the first time since February. Trump told reporters that he saw "a very strong inclination to end Russia and Ukraine (war), and we're involved in that."
"Both sides are tired of fighting," he added.
After the talks concluded on Wednesday, Kushner said "We had pretty tough discussions." A source told Axios that although the discussions started out tense, after each party made its case, it became more constructive.
A US official also explained to Reuters that the negotiations would take some time, but added that the US side had "cautious optimism that progress could be made." The official said that both sides are privately showing some potential for a compromise, adding that any territorial agreement would likely come at the end of negotiations once other items are agreed upon, including a postwar security architecture.
Last week, Trump also said he met privately with Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and suggested that a deal to resolve the conflict could emerge soon.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump claimed that the war was close to being settled and that ending it might involve all of Europe.
When Trump took office in 2025, he promised that he would help facilitate the end of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Reuters contributed to this report.