U.S. envoys visit Moscow as Russia strikes Ukraine

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday in a renewed push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Russian attacks killed at least five people and hit airports, homes and civilian sites across Ukraine.

Russian state media reported the envoys’ arrival and said they were met at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The trip comes as Washington tries to revive peace efforts that have stalled during the war’s fifth year. Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, last visited Moscow in January, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have not visited Kyiv, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected them in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ trip and urged Moscow to do the same. Moscow did not publicly respond. Al Jazeera reported that Ukrainian armed forces had been ordered to observe a three-day ceasefire beginning at midnight on Sept. 5 and lasting until 23:59 on Sept. 8, citing Ukrainian media and People’s Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko. Ukraine’s armed forces later clarified, according to Al Jazeera, that they did not have to order a temporary ceasefire on the front lines because Russia had not stopped its attacks.

The violence continued overnight. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the local military administration in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, said Russian strikes killed five people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Kamianske. He described the dead as employees at the site.

“A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” Hanzha said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that it had struck two metallurgical plants in the region, calling them “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.” Hanzha also said a separate attack in the Nikopol district wounded a 62-year-old man and damaged homes and an apartment building.

Zelenskyy said Russian forces also struck airports in Kyiv and Boryspil overnight, linking the attacks to the U.S. diplomatic mission. “Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said. “We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”

In the Kyiv region, regional military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said two people were wounded after a strike sparked a fire that partially destroyed a nine-story residential building in Boryspil. In Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s state emergency services said Russian drones repeatedly hit a shopping center overnight, damaging shops and starting fires. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt, and emergency crews had to withdraw repeatedly because of the threat of additional strikes.

Al Jazeera, citing Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, reported that three people were injured in the Odesa region, including a 17-year-old boy.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, including Shahed-type drones, Geran drones and decoys. About half of the Shahed-type aircraft were jet-powered, and Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, the air force said.

Russia has recently used more fast-flying, jet-powered drones as fighting along the 1,250-kilometer front line has produced little movement. Ukraine has also expanded long-range strikes against Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russian civilians feel the effects of the conflict.

Russian officials said Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in the border region of Belgorod. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Al Jazeera also reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency brokered a separate local ceasefire to allow repairs aimed at restoring external power to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has relied on emergency diesel generators since Aug. 20.