Jared Kushner’s role in Donald Trump’s Ukraine peace effort is drawing new scrutiny after reports revealed that the negotiations have expanded far beyond cease-fire lines and security guarantees.

They now include discussions about a multibillion-dollar deal involving Russian oil assets.

And some of the business interests positioned to benefit have connections to people close to Kushner and fellow Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.

The arrangement centers on international assets owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil, including oil fields, refineries and gasoline stations in multiple countries.

According to reporting first published by The New York Times and subsequently confirmed by Reuters, the potential transaction has become part of wider U.S.-Russia discussions over what economic relations might look like if the war in Ukraine ends.

The proposal reportedly surfaced during a Sept. 5 meeting in Moscow involving Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kushner and Witkoff.

Putin raised the idea of selling Lukoil’s foreign holdings as a possible symbol that commercial ties between Russia and the United States could be revived after years of sanctions and war.

No final deal has been reached.

Any transaction involving the assets would require approval from both Russian authorities and the U.S. government, including sanctions-related clearance.

But the discussions have raised a politically sensitive question:

Who stands to benefit if a peace agreement unlocks Russian assets worth billions?

Among the potential participants are American billionaire Todd Boehly and Middle Eastern business groups that have existing financial relationships with people in Kushner and Witkoff’s orbit, according to the reporting.

An arm of the U.S. government has also reportedly been involved in the discussions.

That overlap between diplomacy and private commercial relationships has prompted ethics concerns.

Hui Chen, a former Justice Department ethics adviser, described the situation as an alarming set of entanglements and questioned whether officials evaluating competing bids could remain fully insulated from personal or business connections.

Those concerns remain questions rather than findings of misconduct.

There has been no public determination that Kushner or Witkoff improperly used their government roles to benefit themselves, their families or business associates.

Witkoff’s representatives have explicitly denied that he has any financial stake in the matter.

His spokeswoman told the Times that he receives no government salary and has “no conflict of interest” connected to the proposed transaction.

Kushner has also rejected suggestions that his private investments are influencing his diplomatic work.

“Misleading stories will not distract me from the work President Trump asked me to do,” he wrote on X.

He said his focus remained ending wars, bringing people together and pursuing peace.

The controversy took an unusual turn when one of Vladimir Putin’s closest economic envoys publicly jumped to Kushner’s defense.

Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has been deeply involved in U.S.-Russia contacts, responded directly to Kushner online.

“Jared is a Peacemaker,” Dmitriev wrote.

“Peacemakers get attacked for peacemaking because warmongers lavishly fund those attacks. But Peacemakers will prevail and warmongers will lose.”

Dmitriev’s intervention was notable because he has personally participated in the broader negotiations now under scrutiny.

Reuters reported that he met U.S. officials in Washington in late September to discuss the war and possible future energy cooperation between Russia and the United States.

Those conversations included representatives from the U.S. Treasury and Energy departments.

The Lukoil negotiations are not happening in isolation.

Putin said this week that Western companies could potentially regain Russian assets if relations with Moscow improve.

His comments fit into a broader Kremlin effort to link diplomatic normalization with the reopening of commercial ties.

That is where Kushner’s dual identity becomes politically sensitive.

He is not a conventional government employee.

He is Trump’s son-in-law, a former senior White House adviser and the founder of private-equity firm Affinity Partners.

At the same time, Trump has repeatedly deployed him as an informal envoy in some of the administration’s most consequential diplomatic negotiations.

Because Kushner is serving voluntarily rather than drawing a government salary, his financial arrangements are not structured exactly like those of an ordinary Cabinet official.

That has created questions about what ethics rules apply and how potential conflicts should be managed.

A separate CNN investigation published this week intensified that scrutiny.

It reported that Affinity Partners holds a major stake in Israeli financial company Phoenix Financial, which itself owns shares in companies supplying Israel’s military.

Kushner has simultaneously played a major role in U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the Gaza conflict.

The report found no evidence that Kushner altered U.S. diplomacy to benefit those investments.

But the financial overlap again raised questions about the appearance of potential conflicts.

The Russian oil discussions add another layer.

Some of the Middle Eastern businessmen reportedly connected to the Lukoil proposal have previous business relationships with Kushner.

Others have links to Witkoff’s family through ventures including World Liberty Financial.

The existence of those relationships does not itself prove wrongdoing.

But it creates a transparency problem whenever the same people helping negotiate government policy are also connected to private entities with potential financial interests in the outcome.

The peace talks themselves remain highly uncertain.

Russia and Ukraine are still fighting.

Moscow has intensified strikes across Ukraine in recent days, while Kyiv has vowed to hit Russian oil refineries in response to attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

That means the potential economic normalization being discussed by Kushner, Witkoff and Russian officials remains contingent on a conflict that is far from resolved.

Still, commercial planning appears to be happening in parallel with diplomacy.

And that may be the most important revelation.

The Trump administration’s Ukraine negotiations are no longer only about territory, cease-fires and security guarantees.

They are also beginning to encompass the future ownership of Russian energy assets worth billions of dollars.

Kushner and Witkoff are helping conduct those talks.

Business figures connected to their wider networks may have something to gain.

And now one of Putin’s top envoys is publicly defending Kushner from criticism.

None of that proves corruption.

But it does make the need for transparency far harder to dismiss.