US envoys head to Kyiv after Putin talks

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due in Kyiv on Sunday for talks with Ukrainian officials after more than three hours of closed-door negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, as Washington renews its push to end the war in Ukraine.

The visit would be the first trip to the Ukrainian capital by Witkoff and Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, as part of the peace effort. A White House official said the envoys discussed “substantive plans for the next steps” with Putin and were looking forward to “equally productive meetings” in Ukraine. An announcement on the next steps is expected in the coming weeks, U.S. officials said.

Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the U.S. visits take place, offering a brief respite for Kyiv and Moscow. No broader ceasefire is in place, and both sides continued attacks elsewhere overnight into Sunday, officials said.

The Moscow meeting took place Saturday at Putin’s official residence in the Kremlin. Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “constructive, extremely frank” and said they included more than the war.

“The talks were not limited to an exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis — economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in considerable detail,” Ushakov said. He also said Moscow presented its assessment of the battlefield and that the talks addressed what Russia calls “the root causes of the conflict.”

NBC News reported that video published by Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti showed Witkoff telling Putin the U.S. delegation had been reflecting on how “when we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all.” Putin told the envoys: “Working with you is a comfortable experience for us, and we certainly place a high level of trust in you throughout this process.”

Zelenskyy said before the Kyiv meetings that Ukraine wanted the “most constructive, substantive visit and negotiations possible with the American side.” He added: “We need to look for real options for how to bring this war to an end,” and said Kyiv would see “what proposals Steve and Jared have, and what they are told about this in Moscow.”

The talks come as aerial attacks by both Russia and Ukraine have intensified. Ukraine has struggled to repel Russian ballistic missile strikes because of a shortage of interceptor missiles, while Kyiv has focused some of its strikes on Russian economic infrastructure, including oil installations. NBC News reported that Kyiv faces a difficult winter because of a critical shortage of U.S.-made interceptor missiles needed to defend energy infrastructure.

NPR reported that Russian attacks across several Ukrainian regions killed one person and injured at least 10 overnight into Sunday, citing Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted 82 of 108 Russian drones launched overnight, along with six missiles. In Russia, local authorities in the Belgorod border region said a Ukrainian drone killed a man and seriously wounded a woman, while Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.

Russia still controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including areas seized in 2022. The front lines have seen little recent movement, while Russian ground forces have made slow advances at heavy cost, according to the BBC.

Trump said Friday that Kushner and Witkoff had been doing a “great job” ahead of the visits. “We sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done,” he said. “And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.”