Both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a pause on attacks on Moscow and Kyiv as Witkoff and Kushner traveled to both capitals for talks over the weekend.
“Please come more often, so that our people have the chance to live normally,” the Ukrainian leader joked at a press conference with the U.S. envoys in Kyiv on Sunday.
“As soon as the U.S. presidential peace envoys left the city, Putin launched another massive and horrific attack on Kyiv,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday. “[Putin’s] ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy,” the minister added.
On September 6, U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Kyiv for the first time as Washington renewed its peace efforts, following talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Witkoff said “substantive progress was made” during the visits, “including movement on scheduling additional trilateral talks”.
Veronika Melkozerova contributed reporting.