US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Kyiv on Sunday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a day after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The back-to-back meetings are part of Washington’s effort to find a way to end the war, but neither side has announced a breakthrough.
In a first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the US officials arrived in Kyiv by train after travelling to Poland. Zelenskyy welcomed them near St Sophia Cathedral, not far from the headquarters of Ukraine’s security service, which was struck by a Russian drone on Friday.
After the first round of discussions, Witkoff struck an upbeat tone, describing the meeting as substantive and significant.
“We’ve had very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we’re very encouraged,” he said.
Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and one of the key figures involved in the diplomatic push, said the US President was determined to find a lasting solution.
Kushner said Trump wanted to “not just to figure out how do we end the current war,” but also to create the conditions for a durable peace.
ZELENSKYY SAYS TALKS WITH US ENVOYS VERY SUBSTANTIAL
Ukraine’s talks with US peace envoys were “very substantial”, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the talks.
Zelenskyy said the discussions covered security and economic guarantees for Ukraine, along with urgent needs ahead of winter, including additional air-defence missiles and support for the country’s energy system. He said Kyiv was also preparing for the possibility that the war could continue into the colder months.
The Ukrainian President said he hoped the latest US-led effort would pave the way for trilateral negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States to resume. The diplomatic effort was then broadened to include Ukraine’s European partners. Zelenskyy said national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany would take part in further discussions in Kyiv.
From Zelenskyy’s side, the message was clear: Ukraine is ready to talk, but any peace deal must protect it from another Russian attack.
“We are interested in bringing the end of the war closer. Peace is needed. Security guarantees are needed. A dignified character of the postwar peace is needed. Our proposals are ready,” Zelenskyy had said on social media.
NO BREAKTHROUGH AFTER THREE-HOUR PUTIN MEETING
The Kyiv talks followed a more than three-hour meeting between Witkoff, Kushner and Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday.
The meeting ended without any major announcement. Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the discussions as “constructive, extremely frank” and useful, but offered no indication that the sides had resolved their biggest differences.
Ushakov said the talks covered not only the war but also economic issues and possible US-Russia projects. He also said Moscow had presented its assessment of developments on the battlefield and stressed the need to address what Russia calls the “root causes” of the conflict.
WAR CONTINUES DESPITE DIPLOMATIC PUSH
The diplomatic effort has unfolded alongside continued Russian and Ukrainian attacks. Ukraine said its forces struck the Ryazan oil refinery and an airfield in Russia overnight. Kyiv’s air force also said Russia launched 108 drones and missiles at Ukraine, with air defences intercepting 82 drones and six missiles.
Russian officials, meanwhile, said Ukrainian drones struck several areas inside Russia, with the Defence Ministry claiming its air defences shot down 258 Ukrainian drones.
A temporary understanding to halt strikes on Moscow and Kyiv during the diplomatic push has done little to quiet the wider conflict. Russia had announced a three-day halt to attacks on Kyiv as Witkoff and Kushner travelled to the Ukrainian capital, while Zelenskyy said Ukraine would refrain from striking Moscow through Monday. But the arrangement fell well short of a wider ceasefire, with fighting and long-range attacks continuing elsewhere as the two sides remained far apart on ending the war.
The ground war remains deadlocked across the roughly 1,200-kilometre front, while both countries continue to rely heavily on long-range strikes.
– Ends
With inputs from agencies
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