Vladimir Putin opened talks with two American envoys in the Kremlin on Saturday. “Dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you to Moscow. The situation is, of course, not simple,” he told Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, in footage aired by Russian television.
Putin then asked the pair to pass his best wishes to President Donald Trump. Trump had said earlier that his son-in-law Kushner and business ally Witkoff were carrying “a proposal to end the war.”
He would not say whether the plan involves Ukraine giving up territory, which he has suggested before. “We have an idea for peace,” Trump said, adding that the envoys were there “to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.” The envoys were expected in Kyiv on Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. It will be their first visit there since Trump returned to office last year.
A three-day pause on capital strikes
Both sides agreed to stop hitting each other’s capitals while the talks run. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had ordered no strikes on Kyiv for three days from midnight Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had offered a truce during the US visits, said Ukraine would refrain from striking Moscow through Monday.
The calm was not total beforehand. Russian strikes on Saturday killed at least seven people, Ukrainian officials said, including two in the Bucha district outside Kyiv. Overnight, Zelensky said, Russia hit Kyiv’s two airports. He called it a reaction to preparations for the American side possibly flying in, which would be highly unusual. Ukrainian airspace has been closed since 2022, and visiting officials usually come by train.
Elsewhere, five people died in attacks on the Dnipro region, and a Russian strike killed five and wounded five in Kamianske, according to Oleksandr Ganzha, who heads the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. On Friday, hours before Trump announced the mission, a Russian drone hit the Kyiv headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service. Zelensky said it targeted the office of the agency’s acting chief. It was the first strike on the building since the offensive began.
Why talks had stalled
Peace efforts have stalled partly because of Washington’s war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up long-range attacks. Civilian casualties are at levels not seen since February 2022. Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner have taken part in ceasefire talks over Gaza and Iran and have traveled to Moscow several times on earlier diplomatic missions. Their visit follows a rare trip to Moscow last month by CIA director John Ratcliffe.
