Vladimir Putin met with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Saturday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, which has lasted more than four years. “The situation is of course not simple,” the Russian president told U.S. officials in a video broadcast by Russian state media. Vladimir Putin ordered a cessation of strikes on kyiv for three days during the visit.
“Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief (Vladimir) Putin gave the order not to strike kyiv for three days from midnight today,” declared Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the TASS agency, specifying that this decision was linked “to the preparation and holding of contacts” with the American delegation expected in kyiv.
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Donald Trump's emissaries, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, arrived at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Saturday, reported the Russian news agencies TASS and Ria Novosti, carrying, according to the American president, a proposal to end the war in Ukraine. Their plane landed at 12:52 p.m. (9:52 a.m. GMT), according to the Ria Novosti agency. After these talks in Moscow, the two men are to go to kyiv, which would be a first since the start of their work as mediator in this conflict.
Strikes on kyiv airports
Volodymyr Zelensky denounced this morning Russian strikes which hit kyiv's two airports during the night from Friday to Saturday, seeing in them a desire to disrupt the visit of emissaries sent by his American counterpart Donald Trump. “It is clear that these Russian strikes on airports are a reaction to discussions and preparations regarding the possibility of the American side traveling to Ukraine by air and landing at kyiv or Boryspil airports,” the Ukrainian president said.
Furthermore, at least four people were killed and five injured in a Russian attack on the town of Kamianske, in east-central Ukraine, while American envoys are expected in kyiv on Sunday. “Four people were killed and five others injured during the Russian attack on Kamianske. Three of the injured are in hospital. Among them is a 30-year-old woman who is in intensive care,” the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, wrote on Telegram.
“Getting things done”
Donald Trump's emissaries, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are expected in Moscow and then in kyiv this weekend, carrying, according to the American president, a proposal to end the war in Ukraine. “We sent them to see if we could get things done, and there's a good chance we could,” Donald Trump told reporters from the Oval Office.
According to the media Axios, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are going first to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, then to kyiv on Sunday to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Donald Trump did not say whether their proposal involved a cession of territory from Ukraine, as he had previously implied, but he did say: “We have an idea for peace.”
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“No airstrikes from us”
This will be the first time that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit the war-ravaged city of kyiv. The two American envoys have already visited Moscow, for the last time in January.
The US president attributed the war, which began with the launch of a Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, to a “personality problem” between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. Mr. Zelensky proposed respecting a ceasefire with Russia during the tour of American envoys. “There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must, in return, guarantee a ceasefire - without carrying out its own airstrikes - for the duration necessary to conduct these talks,” declared Volodymyr Zelensky in his speech on Friday evening.
Moscow has so far not confirmed the visit, nor responded to Volodymyr Zelensky's proposal. And in the early hours of Saturday, a Russian attack on the town of Kamianske in east-central Ukraine left at least four dead and five injured, according to regional authorities. The trip, a rare event, of CIA Director John Ratcliffe last week to Moscow had sparked much speculation. According to the Kremlin, he met with Russian intelligence services. The President of the United States described this trip as “semi-routine”.
“Guarantee a favorable outcome”
Since his return to the White House at the beginning of 2025, Donald Trump has initiated several rounds of talks to try to find a solution to the conflict, which for the moment have not led to any tangible progress. On Friday, a spectacular Russian drone attack targeted the headquarters of the Ukrainian security services (SBU) in the historic center of kyiv.
“The drone was directly targeting the office of the head of the security service”, Oleksandr Poklad, said the Ukrainian president, specifying that he had spoken with the latter and had instructed him to “provide an appropriate and tangible response” to the attack. Oleksandre Poklad was not in his office at the time of the strike, a source close to the matter told AFP.
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Volodymyr Zelensky then posted two photos on Telegram messaging showing him chatting with the head of the SBU. “The areas to target have been identified. The timing will be chosen to ensure a favorable outcome,” he wrote. AFP journalists saw smoke rising above the city center, while many passers-by observed the work of the emergency services dispatched to the scene. Fifteen people were injured, the capital's military administration said, without specifying whether they were in the targeted building.
“Terrorist”
In recent weeks, Moscow has increased its drone and missile strikes day and night on kyiv and other cities in the country, where air alerts follow one another at an increasingly frequent pace. This summer, the Ukrainian army also intensified its bombings in Russia, sometimes very far from the front, saying it was targeting logistical, military and energy infrastructure.
Volodymyr Zelensky warned this week that Russian airspace was now dangerous due to Ukrainian drones, a warning described by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “terrorist”. kyiv said on Wednesday that it had officially notified this situation to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). And on Friday, Moscow asked ICAO to “condemn” kyiv’s “illegal” statements.
