Putin orders 3-day pause on airstrikes against Kyiv to coincide with US envoy visit

(Central News Agency, Moscow, May 5, Comprehensive Foreign News Report) The Kremlin announced today that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a three-day suspension of air strikes on Kiev starting from midnight today to coincide with the visit of U.S. President Trump’s special envoy to the Ukrainian capital.

The state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: "The President of Russia and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces... have ordered that no attacks on Kiev will be allowed for three days starting from midnight today."

The Associated Press reported that Peskov said that Vladimir Putin's decision was related to preparations for the upcoming trip of U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kiev for peace talks.

Russian state media reported that Weikov and Kushner arrived in Moscow today to try to restart stalled efforts to end Russia's all-out aggression in Ukraine. The two are expected to travel to Kyiv after talks in Moscow.

The trip comes as both sides intensify air strikes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said that Ukraine would suspend air strikes during the visit of the US envoy and called on Moscow to take similar measures.

TASS reported earlier that Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev greeted the US envoy at the airport. He also shared a photo on social media of meeting the U.S. delegation as they disembarked from the plane, with the caption reading: "Welcome to Moscow, peacemakers."

The last known trip to Moscow between Weikov and Trump's son-in-law Kushner was in January, when the two met with Putin at the Kremlin Palace.