Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday for high-stakes talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

The meeting -- preceded by days of frenzied diplomacy from Florida to Geneva to Abu Dhabi -- comes as Washington said it was "very optimistic" about ending Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

But Kyiv and its European allies worry that Witkoff, who has been criticised for his dealings with the Kremlin, will yet cede ground to Moscow.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Ireland on Tuesday, shoring up European support, with the US-Russia meeting coming at a critical point for Kyiv.

Russian forces have advanced fast in November in eastern Ukraine, and Kyiv has been rocked by graft scandal

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