US President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a comprehensive plan to end more than four years of conflict in Ukraine.
The move represents Washington’s latest effort to break the diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were expected to arrive in Kyiv on Sunday.
According to US outlet Axios, they were scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, followed by President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin has declined to comment on the reported meetings.
Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to assess whether progress toward peace was achievable.
Diplomatic efforts have stalled amid Washington’s ongoing tensions with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, resulting in civilian casualty levels not seen since the conflict began.
‘An Idea for Peace’
In late August, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow partly to urge Russian counterparts to consider a settlement, Reuters and several other media outlets reported. US media also indicated that Ratcliffe warned Russia against any attacks on NATO member states.
Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.
“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.
“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” he said.
The US president would not confirm whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory, as he has previously suggested, but stated: “We have an idea for peace.”
This marks the first time Trump’s businessman associate Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.
Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have traveled repeatedly to Moscow in previous diplomatic attempts.
‘No Air Strikes on Our Part’
The renewed diplomatic push comes as Russia and Ukraine exchange long-range missile and drone attacks.
Just hours before Trump’s announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.
The strike, which Zelensky said targeted the office of the agency’s acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.
Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys’ visit.
“There will be no air strikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire — without its own air strikes — for the duration needed to conduct these talks,” he said in his evening address.
Russia did not immediately respond to the proposal.
Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.
Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be “completely unsafe” and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.
Putin said Zelensky’s comments amounted to “state terrorism” and said that Moscow would head off any disruption to civil aviation.