US envoys meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv after talks with Putin in Moscow

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push for peace after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Their trip follows intensive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, seeking to revive peace talks during escalating aerial attacks by both sides.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Kyiv is ready for a “constructive” discussion with the US delegation.

“We are interested in bringing the end of the war closer,” he said in a post on Telegram.

“Peace is needed. Security guarantees are needed. A just and sustainable postwar peace is needed. Our proposals are prepared.”

Witkoff and Kushner began their whirlwind weekend of diplomacy with a three-hour meeting with Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday afternoon.

The negotiations were followed by dinner with the Russian leader, according to a Kremlin press briefing.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov later described the talks as “useful” and said the American representatives had “prepared seriously for this trip.” He said the US team expressed interest in ending hostilities as quickly as possible and offered “a whole series of considerations regarding possible paths to a settlement”.

Ushakov said Witkoff and Kushner had promised to use “the observations and assessments they received personally from the President of Russia,” during talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.

Kushner and Witkoff said they would use Putin’s ‘observations and assessments’ in their talks with Ukraine. / Credit: AP

Commenting on the Moscow talks, a White House official said negotiators “discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks”.

Witkoff and Kushner are expected to arrive in Kyiv on Sunday – their first visit to the Ukrainian capital since the war began.

The visit comes amid near-constant Russian missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital, including a direct hit on Friday on the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU.

Zelenskyy has said that an acute shortage of air defense interceptors has left Ukraine vulnerable to ballistic missile attacks.

However, Putin and Zelenskyy both agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the talks took place. Putin said he had ordered a three-day halt to Russian attacks on Kyiv to coincide with the US delegation’s visit to Ukraine but stressed both sides had not agreed to a wider ceasefire.

Putin greets Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin. / Credit: AP

At the start of Saturday’s meeting, Putin had acknowledged the difficulty of the talks and asked the US delegation to thank Trump.

“The situation we need to work through today is, of course, not a simple one. But before we begin doing that, I want to ask you to convey my very best wishes, and a word of gratitude, to the President of the United States, Mr. Trump,” Putin said.

Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund and a Kremlin special envoy, also took part in the talks. After they concluded, Dmitriev hailed the meeting as an “important peacemaking visit” in a post on X.