Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev is expected to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week as part of ongoing discussions aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters and Axios reported Monday.
Dmitriev, head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, has emerged as a key interlocutor in backchannel talks with the Trump administration. The meeting in Switzerland would mark his fifth known encounter with Witkoff, who was initially tapped to mediate Gaza peace efforts, since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.
Kusher, a real estate investor and Trump’s son-in-law, has only recently appeared publicly as being involved in Ukraine peace negotiations. In December, he traveled to Moscow with Witkoff to meet with President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S.-Russia meeting at Davos is expected to focus on the Trump administration’s peace proposal unveiled in November, which has since faced setbacks amid disagreements between Russia and Ukraine, Axios reported.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump, who will also attend the World Economic Forum, would also participate in the discussion. The U.S. president recently said he believes Ukraine is the main obstacle to progress in peace talks, reflecting his fluctuating approach to the war, in which he has alternately faulted Russia and Ukraine for continued fighting.
Neither the Kremlin nor the White House has commented on the reported planned meeting between Dmitriev, Witkoff and Kushner at Davos.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s national security chief and top negotiator Rustem Umerov said his team had spent the weekend holding meetings with Witkoff, Kushner and other Trump administration officials to discuss the U.S. peace plan.
“We agreed to continue the work at the team level during the next stage of consultations in Davos,” Umerov wrote on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address on Sunday that he remained skeptical of Russia’s intentions in talks to end the war, accusing Moscow of prioritizing missile strikes and energy blackouts over genuine peace efforts.
Putin, meanwhile, has praised his military’s recent battlefield gains and signaled his intention to continue the fight as the war approaches its fourth year. Putin’s main demand is Russian control over the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
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