US envoys Witkoff, Kushner meet Zelensky in kyiv after talks with Putin in Moscow

Since the start of their mediation work, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have never visited the Ukrainian capital. The American envoys arrived by train on Sunday, September 6, at midday, at kyiv central station, where they then met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. This meeting took place the day after the visit to Moscow by the two representatives of Donald Trump's administration, as part of talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The talks with kyiv were "meaningful" and will continue "as long as necessary", assured Steve Witkoff after the meeting, shortly before 6 p.m. (5 p.m. in Paris). Jared Kushner, for his part, said he hoped that the discussions in kyiv would have made it possible to identify “new avenues” to put an end to the conflict which has been raging for four years.

“We are ready for dialogue,” declared the Ukrainian president, who posted photos on social networks in the morning showing him in a meeting with his “negotiating team”. “Ukraine has always been and will be constructive” but “security guarantees are necessary” for the country, recalled Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president told the press shortly before his meeting with the two envoys that these talks also involved European advisers on national security issues.

Three hours of interview with Vladimir Putin

On Saturday evening, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner spoke for three hours with Vladimir Putin. Images broadcast in the evening by Russian television show the head of state addressing the Americans: “The situation is of course not simple,” he told them. The American representatives "not only reiterated their usual interest in a rapid end to hostilities, but they also presented a number of ideas on possible paths leading to a settlement", declared Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, describing to journalists this conversation as "constructive, extremely frank and full of trust". On the American side, a White House spokeswoman told AFP that the two envoys "discussed substantial plans for the next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks."

Since his return to the White House at the beginning of 2025, Donald Trump has initiated several rounds of discussions to find a way out of the war triggered by the Russian invasion of 2022. In vain. The night from Saturday to Sunday was marked by attacks from both camps. Moscow targeted Ukraine with 108 drones and S8000 Banderol missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which says it shot down most of them. The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have neutralized 258 Ukrainian drones launched at Russia during the night. According to authorities in both countries, three civilians were injured in Ukraine, while a man was killed and a woman injured in Russia's Belgorod region.