Witkoff and Kushner Travel to Kyiv for High-Stakes Talks with Zelensky Following Putin Meeting

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss proposals aimed at ending the four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We are interested in bringing the end of the war closer,” Zelensky said in a social media post before the arrival of Witkoff and Kushner.

“Peace is needed. Security guarantees are needed. A just and sustainable postwar peace is needed. Our proposals are prepared.”

The American envoys arrived by train and were welcomed at the station in Kyiv by high-ranking Ukrainian officials before being received by Zelensky at a ceremony in St. Sophia Square.

Before beginning his talks with Witkoff and Kushner, Zelensky said his government was ready for a constructive discussion with the two men.

He added that European security advisors would participate in some of the discussions during the envoys’ first visit to Kyiv since Donald Trump started his second term as president of the United States in January 2025.

“We are expecting one session of our talks, and then another session will be held with the European NSAs (national security advisors). Several important sessions,” said Zelensky.

Push for peace in Ukraine

Washington’s initiative to end the fighting has lost momentum, with the Trump administration focused for the past six months on its war with Iran.

Saturday’s meeting in Moscow between Witkoff, Kushner, and Putin lasted more than three hours and ended without the announcement of any significant developments.

Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described the talks as constructive, frank, and useful.

While Moscow offered its “comprehensive assessment” of the battlefield situation in Ukraine, Ushakov said the talks were not focused on the war in Ukraine.

“Economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America were discussed in considerable detail,” he said.

Air war intensifies

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometre front line.

Russia has deployed jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.

Putin and Zelensky had agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the talks with Witkoff and Kushner take place.

However, officials said the two sides exchanged fire overnight into Sunday.

Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions killed one person and wounded at least 10 others, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

In Zaporizhzhia, drone strikes killed a 74-year-old man and wounded three people, while a drone damaged an apartment building, wounding seven people, in the Khmelnytskyi region.

Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that it intercepted 82 drones out of the 108 launched by Russia, along with six missiles.

In Russia, a man was killed and a woman was seriously wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a vehicle, authorities in the Belgorod border region said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its air defences shot down 258 Ukrainian drones on Saturday night over 14 Russian regions, the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, and the waters of the Black and Azov Seas.

In Kyiv on Sunday, dozens gathered for a nationwide moment of silence honouring Ukraine’s fallen soldiers.

Nataliia Lipei, 67, whose son, Viktor, was killed in December 2022, was among those who attended.

“I hope these steps and these meetings will definitely produce results, because there has been so much bloodshed and so many deaths here that we have to stop all of this,” Lipei told The Associated Press.

Not everyone shared her hope for the talks. Oleksandr Pastukhov, a 27-year-old video editor who joined the commemoration, was sceptical that the envoys’ visit would change anything.

“We’ve already seen delegations like this come here before,” he said. “We’ve seen this so-called ceasefire for three days, which ended after just a couple of hours, and now we’re supposed to naively think that two people will come and change something.”

(With newswires)

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