Two senior envoys for US President Donald Trump have arrived in Moscow for talks intended to advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Russian officials in the capital before travelling to Kyiv on Sunday for discussions with Ukraine. Trump said on Friday that the pair were carrying a proposal aimed at ending the war.
Axios reported that the envoys would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky separately. Neither Washington nor the Kremlin had publicly detailed the planned Moscow discussions.
The pair were greeted at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport by Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev, according to photographs published by Reuters. Flight-tracking data showed that a US government aircraft arrived from Helsinki after flying from the United States earlier on Saturday.
Security concerns ahead of Kyiv visit
Russian state media, citing the Kremlin, reported that Putin had ordered a three-day suspension of strikes on Kyiv because of the US visit. The report came after Zelensky said Russia had carried out overnight strikes on airports in Kyiv and Boryspil.
Zelensky described the airport strikes as demonstrative and said they appeared linked to preparations for a possible US flight into Ukraine. Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Ukrainian president said on Friday that he would guarantee the safety of Russian airspace during the envoys’ visit, while calling on Russia to offer Ukraine the same assurance. He also said an overnight Russian strike on a civilian building in the Dnipro region had killed four people and injured five.
Witkoff and Kushner have previously travelled to Russia, but Sunday would mark their first visit to Ukraine. Their Moscow trip follows a rare visit to the Russian capital by CIA Director John Ratcliffe just over a week ago. Trump later described that meeting as semi-routine.
Previous US-backed negotiations involving Ukraine and Russia, as well as discussions with European allies, have not produced a breakthrough. The sides remain divided over issues including territory and security guarantees for Ukraine, while aerial attacks have intensified in recent months.
Source: BBC News
