Two of President Donald Trump's top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, arrived in Moscow on Saturday and are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday with a proposal to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told reporters Friday that the pair were carrying a concrete offer. "We have an idea for peace," Trump said. "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. And there may be a good chance that we'll do it."
The envoys were greeted at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport by Russian diplomat Kirill Dmitriev, according to Russia's state news agency TASS. Flight tracking data cited by BBC News showed a U.S. government plane had traveled from Helsinki, Finland, where it had arrived from the United States earlier that day.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv beginning at midnight Saturday, the Kremlin said. "The Russian president and commander in chief... has given the order not to strike Kyiv for three days from midnight tonight," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday he was preparing for the envoys' visit and committed to not striking Russia while they were in the country. "Our goal is to make the visit and the talks with the U.S. side as constructive and substantive as possible. We need to look for real options for how to move this war toward an end," Zelenskyy said in a social media post.
The trip to Ukraine would be the first for both Witkoff and Kushner since Trump returned to office. In December 2025, the two men met with Putin for five hours in talks described as "constructive" by a Russian official, but no breakthrough followed. U.S. news outlet Axios reported that the envoys would separately meet both Putin and Zelenskyy during this round of travel.
The renewed push comes as both sides continue to exchange long-range missile and drone strikes. Just hours before Trump announced the trip Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv. Zelenskyy said the strike targeted the office of the agency's acting chief and was the first on SBU headquarters since the invasion began.
Earlier Saturday, Zelenskyy said Russia had also fired what he called "demonstrative" strikes on airports in Kyiv and Boryspil overnight. He said the strikes appeared to be a reaction to discussions about whether U.S. aircraft might land at those airports. Ukraine's airspace has been closed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Witkoff and Kushner visit to Moscow came just over a week after CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a rare visit to the Russian capital. Trump described that earlier meeting last week as "semi-routine." Key disagreements between Russia and Ukraine on issues including territory and security guarantees for Ukraine remain unresolved, according to CBS News.
