Putin meets US envoys on Trump Ukraine peace proposal

Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday as Washington tried to revive talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, with both Moscow and Kyiv pledging a limited pause in strikes on each other’s capitals during the diplomacy.

The visit came after President Donald Trump said Friday that Witkoff and Kushner were carrying “a proposal to end the war,” though he did not provide details. Trump has made ending the war a priority in his second term, but his efforts have produced few results so far.

“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.

Russian television showed Putin welcoming the envoys in Moscow. “Dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you to Moscow. The situation is, of course, not simple,” Putin said. He also asked them to convey “best wishes and words of gratitude” to Trump.

Witkoff told Putin that Trump had sent his best wishes and thanked him for the limited ceasefire during the delegation’s visit, Al Jazeera reported. Putin said Russia would do its utmost to ensure the mediators’ safety.

The U.S. envoys were met at the airport by Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian presidential envoy who has been a key contact for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war. Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday, which would be their first visit to the Ukrainian capital. Both have visited Moscow before, most recently in January, when they met Putin in the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said Russia would halt strikes on Kyiv for three days. “The Russian president, the commander-in-chief, has given the order from midnight tonight not to strike Kyiv for three days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would stop strikes on Moscow during the U.S. officials’ visit and said he expected the envoys in Kyiv on Sunday.

“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

Large gaps remain between Russia and Ukraine. The Kremlin said Friday it was sticking to the position Putin set out two years earlier: that Ukraine should give up four regions claimed by Russia and not join NATO. Ukraine considers that position unacceptable.

The push comes as the war has intensified. Ground troops remain locked along a 775-mile, or 1,250-kilometer, front line, with little movement on either side. Both countries have stepped up aerial attacks in recent weeks, striking more distant targets.

Ukraine has used long-range strikes against Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce warehouses in an effort to weaken Russia’s war effort and economy. The Guardian reported that strikes on Russian refineries have contributed to fuel shortages and higher pump prices. Russia, meanwhile, has increased attacks on Kyiv and other cities, stretching Ukraine’s air defenses.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to disrupt preparations for the U.S. delegation’s visit to Ukraine by striking 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,” he wrote on X. Ukrainian airspace has been closed since 2022, and visiting officials have largely traveled by train.

Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes on Saturday killed at least seven people, including in Kyiv suburbs. In the southern Dnipropetrovsk region, five people were killed and five others wounded at a factory, according to local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. A 62-year-old man was injured in another attack in the region’s Nikopol district. In Mykolaiv, drones struck a shopping center overnight, injuring a 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, emergency services said.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and 167 drones overnight, including jet-powered UAVs, and that Ukrainian air defenses disabled 128 drones. Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.