Trump envoys arrive in Moscow, set to visit Kyiv as Putin pauses strikes

Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday as part of a renewed effort to explore an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. They are expected to make their first visit to Kyiv on Sunday. Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special representative, met the delegation at Vnukovo Airport. Russian state media reported that Putin was expected to meet with the Americans later on Saturday. Dmitriev posted photographs of their arrival on social media with the caption: "Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers."

The visit coincided with a significant, though temporary, development on the ground. The Kremlin said Putin had ordered a 72-hour halt to strikes on Kyiv from midnight Saturday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov directly linked the pause to "the preparation for and conduct of the Americans' contacts in Kyiv." President Volodymyr Zelensky said separately that Ukraine would also suspend airstrikes during the envoys' visit and urged Moscow to do the same more broadly. Russia has not publicly responded to that specific appeal, but the pause in strikes on Kyiv marked a rare, limited convergence between the two sides ahead of the diplomatic effort.

Witkoff and Kushner have visited Moscow several times over the past year, most recently in January, when they met Putin at the Kremlin. Neither has previously traveled to Kyiv. The omission has drawn quiet criticism from Ukrainian officials, who have noted that the two men negotiating Ukraine's future had so far done so without visiting the country. Zelensky said on Friday that he expected them to arrive in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday and outlined his aim for the meetings: "Our goal is to have a visit and negotiations with the American side that are as constructive and substantive as possible. We need to look for realistic options on how to bring this war to an end."

What the envoys are bringing with them remains only partly known. Trump said on Friday that the United States had a new, concrete proposal aimed at ending the conflict, but did not provide details. The broad outline of the framework under discussion since late last year has remained largely unchanged: a 28-point plan, parts of which were leaked and later revised, that would require Ukraine to accept its Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions as de facto Russian territory, along with Crimea. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would be frozen along the current line of contact within a demilitarized buffer zone. In return, Washington has offered Ukraine an Article 5-style security guarantee, potentially lasting 15 years and backed by the United States and European allies. The proposal also includes using about $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to finance postwar reconstruction and a path to European Union membership as early as 2027. Zelensky has said he has neither the legal nor moral right to formally cede Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian negotiators have sought amendments that would reduce the plan's territorial concessions—the same dispute that has stalled talks for months and is expected to be tested again during Sunday's meetings.

The visit comes after months in which Washington's diplomatic initiative had lost momentum, even as both sides intensified aerial attacks in recent weeks. Ukraine has conducted a campaign of drone incursions that disrupted flights at Moscow's airports, while Russia has carried out a sustained bombing campaign against Kyiv for more than a week. The attacks struck a particularly sensitive target on September 4, when a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU. Zelensky accused Moscow of directly targeting the agency chief's personal office.

Russian officials signaled ahead of the visit that Moscow's negotiating position remains firm. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian state media that "the U.S. administration must take into account the realities on the ground in the matter of Ukrainian settlement, where the situation is changing not in Kyiv's favor." Ryabkov was referring to Russian battlefield gains in the eastern Donetsk region, where a belt of Ukrainian industrial towns has come under increasing pressure from advancing Russian forces in recent months. Trump's team has previously cited the same pressure in private assessments suggesting that Ukraine could lose significant additional territory over the next six months, regardless of what a settlement ultimately stipulates on paper.

As the delegation traveled to Moscow, Zelensky said on Saturday that Russia had struck two Ukrainian airports ahead of the U.S. visit—a reminder of how narrow and conditional the current pause in hostilities remains. The previous time Witkoff and Kushner visited Russia to discuss a settlement, in January, the talks failed to produce a breakthrough on the core disputes that have held up negotiations for months. Those same issues—how much Ukrainian territory Moscow will be allowed to retain, what guarantees could deter a future Russian attack, and who besides Washington would back them—are expected to dominate discussions in Moscow and Kyiv this weekend. The talks will also introduce an unfamiliar element: American envoys seeing the other side of the war firsthand for the first time.

Originally published on HNGN