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US peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to meet with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The pair met the Russian leader in Moscow on Saturday as they discussed a plan to end the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
A White House official told the AFP news agency that the duo had met with Putin to “advance President Trump’s agenda of peace in the Russia-Ukraine War.”
“The two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and look forward to equally productive meetings tomorrow in Ukraine,” they said.
Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, called the talks “extremely frank” and said that the US side had “put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement.”
He added that the Russians had told the Americans that Moscow was “confident” it could seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had also spoken with Witkoff and Kushner on Saturday and reaffirmed Kyiv’s commitment to pausing strikes during their visit.
“From the moment of this conversation, we are ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process,” he wrote in a post on social media. “From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv”.
Putin has ordered his forces to halt strikes on Kyiv for three days while the envoys make their trip, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax. The pause was in place from midnight Saturday, he said.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Witkoff and Kushner would be bringing a “proposal to end the war” to Kyiv and Moscow.
“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,” he said. “And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it”.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the Ukrainian plan for discussions with the envoys had been approved and that Kyiv was ready for a “substantive conversation.”
Additional sources • AFP