Witkoff, Kushner Reach Kyiv as Trump Revives Ukraine Peace Push

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday for their first visit to the Ukrainian capital, a day after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Washington's latest effort to end more than four years of war.

An AFP reporter in Kyiv saw the two American envoys arrive by train, the standard route for visiting foreign officials since Ukraine closed its airspace following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Witkoff and Kushner are scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after spending Saturday in the Kremlin, where they discussed what the White House described as Trump's peace agenda.

A White House official told Agence France-Presse that the Moscow meeting focused on advancing efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and included "substantive plans for next steps," with further details expected in the coming weeks.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov described the Putin meeting as "extremely frank" and said the American delegation presented several possible approaches to reaching a settlement.

But Moscow also made clear that its military objectives remain unchanged.

According to Ushakov, Russian officials told the U.S. envoys that Moscow remains confident it can achieve its battlefield goals, including capturing the remaining parts of eastern Ukraine it seeks to control.

Zelensky Says Ukraine Is 'Ready for the Conversation'

Ahead of the envoys' arrival, Zelensky said Ukraine was prepared to engage constructively.

"Ukraine has always been and will remain constructive," he said on social media.

Trump said Friday that Witkoff and Kushner were carrying "a proposal" and "an idea for peace," although the White House has not publicly disclosed the plan's terms.

The Sunday meeting will give Zelensky his first direct opportunity to hear what emerged from the latest Kremlin discussions and respond to whatever proposals Washington believes could restart stalled negotiations.

The Moscow visit was Witkoff and Kushner's eighth during the war, according to AFP, but their first trip to Kyiv.

Kurdistan24 reported Saturday that Witkoff set a notably warm personal tone at the Kremlin, telling Putin that memories of their meetings would rank among the most significant of his and Kushner's careers.

Putin, for his part, said contacts of that kind were useful regardless of the eventual outcome and thanked Trump for continuing his efforts despite the difficulty of reaching a settlement.

U.S.-led diplomacy has so far failed to produce a breakthrough. Negotiations lost momentum earlier this year, while Washington's attention increasingly shifted toward the conflict with Iran.

For many Ukrainians, expectations remain limited.

Yaroslav, a 29-year-old Kyiv resident, told AFP that repeated rounds of negotiations had left him with little confidence that the latest effort would end differently.

Limited Strike Pause as Fighting Continues Elsewhere

The diplomatic mission is taking place under a limited agreement between Moscow and Kyiv not to target each other's capitals for three days.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv beginning at midnight, while Zelensky said Ukraine would refrain from attacks on Moscow through Monday.

The pause is intended to facilitate the negotiations and the movement of the American mediators.

It does not constitute a broader ceasefire.

Fighting continued elsewhere across Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said Russian attacks killed 10 people on Saturday, including a child and family members in the Kharkiv region and two people outside Kyiv.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 108 drones and missiles overnight, while Moscow said Russian forces shot down 258 Ukrainian drones.

The temporary restraint around the capitals therefore comes against a backdrop of continued heavy combat and deep disagreement over the terms of any settlement.

Russia controls large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine and continues to insist on territorial objectives Kyiv rejects.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions, according to AFP.

Witkoff and Kushner's arrival now shifts the diplomatic focus from what Moscow is prepared to accept to whether those positions leave any room for compromise with Kyiv.

Sunday's talks with Zelensky are therefore likely to provide the clearest indication yet of whether Trump's latest proposal can revive substantive negotiations, or whether the fundamental differences between Russia and Ukraine remain too wide for a breakthrough.