US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday for talks aimed at reviving a stalled push to end the Russia-Ukraine war, according to multiple reports. The three-hour closed-door meeting came as both sides said they would halt airstrikes on each other's capitals during the visit.
The envoys were met at the airport in Moscow by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photos of the meeting with the caption "Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers," as reported by several outlets. The US outlet Axios reported that Witkoff and Kushner were expected to meet Putin later in the day, a meeting that subsequently took place.
At the start of the talks, Putin asked Kushner and Witkoff to pass on his warm wishes and gratitude to US President Donald Trump, and described the situation in Ukraine as "not simple," according to accounts of the meeting.
Pause in strikes on capitals
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass news agency that Putin had ordered no strikes against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Moscow until Monday, adding that he had spoken with the US delegation on Saturday afternoon after their arrival in Moscow.
"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, as reported by The Economic Times.
The pause in strikes came as the envoys were expected to visit Kyiv on Sunday, a trip that would mark their first visit to the Ukrainian capital in the peace process, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple reports. Both envoys had visited Moscow before, most recently in January when they met Putin at the Kremlin.
Escalating attacks ahead of talks
The talks took place against a backdrop of intensified aerial attacks on both sides. On Friday, a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service in Kyiv, according to reports. Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to disrupt the envoys' visit with strikes on Kyiv's two airports overnight, saying Ukraine would adjust its operations accordingly.
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 167 drones overnight, of which Ukrainian air defences disabled 128, as reported by both The Economic Times and The Guardian. Russia also launched ballistic missiles, the air force reported.
On the ground, Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility in Ukraine's southern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration. Russia's Ministry of Defense said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants, describing them as "major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine's military production."
Two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine's Kyiv region, according to Tymur Tkachenko. Russian forces also struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine's state emergency services said.
In Russia's Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, two people were killed and three others were wounded by Ukrainian attacks on Saturday, local authorities said. A Russian drone also struck a house in Chuhuiv in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, killing at least three people and wounding a 40-year-old woman, regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Two people were killed and another person wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Bucha district of Ukraine's Kyiv region on Saturday, local officials reported.
Positions remain far apart
While the visit signaled a renewed diplomatic push, the two sides remain far apart on the conditions for ending the war. The Kremlin reiterated its position that Ukraine should give up four regions claimed by Russia and not join NATO, a stance that Ukraine rejects, as reported by The Guardian. The US push to end the fighting had lost momentum in recent months, with American attention focused on the war with Iran, according to The Economic Times and Chicago Tribune, but Trump said he had sent Witkoff and Kushner to see whether they could "get something done."
"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, as quoted in The Guardian.
The envoys' visit to Kyiv on Sunday is expected to be the first time they have traveled there in the peace process.