Russian President Vladimir Putin met US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday as Washington sought to revive stalled efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The closed-door meeting lasted more than three hours and came amid an intensifying wave of aerial attacks between Russia and Ukraine.
The talks took place as both sides agreed to temporarily pause strikes on each other’s capitals. Putin ordered a halt to Russian strikes on Kyiv for three days from midnight Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was prepared to refrain from attacks on Moscow through Monday.
Putin meetsโ Witkoff and Kushner at Kremlin
Witkoff and Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held discussions with Putin in Moscow in an effort to inject fresh momentum into the peace process, which has largely stalled. At the beginning of the meeting, Putin asked the two American envoys to convey his warm wishes and gratitude to Trump. He also acknowledged the complexity of the situation in Ukraine.
The meeting marked the latest high-level effort by the Trump administration to bring Russia and Ukraine closer to an agreement. Witkoff and Kushner had last travelled to Moscow in January, when they also met Putin at the Kremlin. The US delegation was welcomed at the Moscow airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photographs of the meeting on social media and described the visitors as “peacemakers”.
US envoys to travel to Kyiv
Following their Moscow meetings, Witkoff and Kushner are scheduled to travel to Kyiv on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. It will be their first visit to the Ukrainian capital as part of the current peace efforts. Zelenskyy said he spoke with the US delegation after its arrival in Moscow and confirmed that Ukraine was willing to pause strikes on Moscow during the period.
“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv,” Zelenskyy said. Russia’s presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin had ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days.
Peace process remains stalled
The renewed diplomatic push comes against the backdrop of a sharp escalation in aerial attacks. Russia has intensified bombardments of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, while Ukraine has continued long-range strikes on Russian military facilities, oil refineries and other targets.
The two sides have struggled to make significant progress along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front line, while air attacks have continued to affect civilian areas. On Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, in Kyiv. The agency is among those involved in Ukraine’s deep-strike operations inside Russia. Ukraine has also carried out long-range attacks aimed at disrupting Russia’s military capabilities and economy.
Zelenskyy links Russian strikes to US visit
Zelenskyy also linked overnight Russian attacks on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports to preparations for the US delegation’s planned journey to Ukraine. He said the strikes appeared to be connected to discussions about the possibility of the American delegation travelling to Kyiv by aircraft.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had taken note of the Russian move but insisted that Kyiv would not allow military developments to threaten diplomacy. Meanwhile, Russia has increasingly relied on fast-flying, jet-powered drones in its attacks, while Ukrainian officials continue to report shortages of air defence systems.
Russian attacks kill civilians in Ukraine
The diplomatic efforts unfolded as fresh Russian strikes killed civilians across several parts of Ukraine. In the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian attacks killed five employees at an industrial facility and injured others, according to local authorities. Separate attacks in the region also damaged residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.
In the Kharkiv region, a Russian drone struck a house in Chuhuiv, killing three people, including a 19-year-old woman, an 11-year-old boy and a 45-year-old man. A woman was also wounded. Two people were killed and another was injured in a Russian drone attack in the Bucha district of the Kyiv region, local officials said. Several other facilities, including homes, warehouses and railway infrastructure, were damaged across the region. Russian drones also struck a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region, damaging shops and triggering fires. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were wounded.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and 167 attack drones overnight. Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 128 of the drones, according to the air force. Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight. In Russia’s Belgorod region, local authorities reported that Ukrainian attacks killed two people and injured three others. The latest diplomatic push therefore comes at a critical moment, with Washington attempting to revive negotiations even as the battlefield and aerial attacks continue to intensify.
(With inputs from AP)
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Putin orders three-day pause to strikes on Ukraine as US delegation arrives in Moscow