The US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow to try to resuscitate a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as both sides said they would halt airstrikes for the visit.
The envoys were met at the airport on Saturday by the Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a key interlocutor for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Ukraine-Russia war. The US outlet Axios reported that they were expected to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, later in the day.
The visit came as Trump suggested on Friday a new proposal to end the war, without providing any details on what his new plan might be. Trump made ending the war a priority early in his second term, but his efforts have so far yielded little results.
“I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it,” Trump said.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv would stop its airstrikes during the US officials’ visit and asked Moscow do the same. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Saturday that Putin had ordered a ۷۲-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv.
Large gaps remain between Russia and Ukraine on how to end the war. On Friday, the Kremlin said it was sticking by the position Putin set out two years earlier – that Ukraine should give up four regions claimed by Russia and not join Nato. That position is intolerable to Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner were expected to visit Kyiv on Sunday, which would be the first time the two envoys have visited the Ukrainian capital. Both have visited Moscow before, their latest visit in January when they met Putin in the Kremlin.
As peace efforts floundered in recent months, with US attention turned to its war with Iran, the conflict has intensified. Ground troops have been locked in a grinding stalemate along the ۷۷۵-mile (۱,۲۵۰km) frontline with little advances on either side. Both sides have intensified their aerial attacks in recent weeks, hitting increasingly distant targets.
Ukraine has carried out long-range strikes on Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce warehouses, to try to degrade Russia’s war-effort and economy. Its strikes on Russian oil refineries have led to fuel shortages and rising prices at the pump.
On Friday, a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), one of the agencies which are responsible for carrying out deep-strike operations in Russia. Zelenskyy has vowed to retaliate. Russia has also increased its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with waves of bombardments, stretching Ukraine’s air defence systems.
Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to disrupt the envoys’ visit to Ukraine with strikes on Kyiv’s two airports overnight. “Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
Officials visiting Ukraine have largely done so by train, as Ukrainian airspace has been closed since ۲۰۲۲ due to the war.
On Friday, Russia carried out overnight strikes, killing five people and wounding five more at a factory in the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to thje local military administration head, Oleksandr Hanzha. He said those killed were employees working at the factory who were “doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives.”
A ۶۲-year-old man was wounded and several homes and a building were damaged in an another attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.
Russia also struck a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging the building and wounding a ۷۲-year-old man and a ۱۷-year-old girl. Emergency services said they were repeatedly forced to withdraw because of the threat of more strikes.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and ۱۶۷ drones overnight, including jet-powered UAVs. Ukrainian air defences disabled ۱۲۸ of the drones, the air force said.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down ۵۳ Ukrainian drones overnight.
