Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff's visit to Kyiv marked the first visit by US negotiators to the Ukrainian capital. The two envoys met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials on Sunday.
The US envoys traveled to Kyiv from Moscow. Kushner and Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in a meeting that lasted about three hours. However, the talks were not followed by any sign of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
The first part of the talks lasted about three hours and continued with a working lunch. Steve Witkoff described the meeting as “substantive and important,” saying they expected to make further progress after the discussions.
Earlier talks in the administration of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war produced limited results. Trump said Friday that he had a new peace proposal but did not disclose its details.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said new talks involving European representatives were planned for Sunday. National security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany were also in Kyiv that day.
Zelenskyy said security guarantees and a dignified postwar peace were needed as Ukraine’s negotiating team prepared to meet the US envoys. The Ukrainian government argues that Washington will play a decisive role in any potential peace agreement.
One of the main issues dividing the sides is the future of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from the line of settlements under its control, while Kyiv rejects that demand. Ukraine is also seeking strong security guarantees from European countries and the United States to deter a new Russian attack.
After intense airstrikes, some Kyiv residents approached the peace talks with cautious hope. Stepan Yermak, a city resident and military veteran, said the war should end and people should be able to live in peace.
Long-range airstrikes between Russia and Ukraine are also continuing. The Kremlin said attacks on Kyiv would be halted until Monday. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would also suspend attacks against Moscow.
Despite this, fighting was still underway along the approximately 1,200-kilometer front line, and Russia struck several Ukrainian cities on Saturday.
Ukraine also said that it struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region overnight, sparking a fire. The Ukrainian government had announced that it carried out attacks targeting refineries, oil terminals and storage facilities in Russia throughout the summer.
