Russia and Ukraine announced this Saturday (5) a pause in air strikes against the capitals of both countries, amid negotiations between Moscow and Washington to try to end the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military not to attack Kiev for three days, starting at midnight on Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski said that Ukraine is also willing to suspend attacks against Moscow until Monday (7).
The decision comes amid the visit to Moscow by US President Donald Trump's special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The two arrived in Moscow for talks on how to end the war in Ukraine and were received by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Zelenski said he had spoken to Witkoff and Kushner, who had already started negotiations with Russia. The two envoys are expected in Kiev on Sunday (6). According to the Ukrainian president, authorities discussed the possibility of the American delegation traveling by plane to Ukraine.
"From the moment of this conversation, we are ready to observe a ceasefire in air strikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process," Zelenski wrote on Telegram. He said he hoped Russia would do the same with Kiev.
A delegation with Witkoff, Kushner and Dmitriev left Moscow's government airport towards the city. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told state news agency Tass that Putin would receive the envoys at the Kremlin later on Saturday.
Trump suggested on Friday (4) that the United States had a new concrete proposal to try to end the war, which is in its fifth year. The American president, however, did not detail what the proposal would be.
Dmitriev, who told Reuters in June that he had been in touch with American negotiators during a break in their visits to Russia, attended Witkoff and Kushner's previous meetings with Putin, alongside the Russian president's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov. The Russian envoy also played a role in negotiations to obtain exemptions from US sanctions on Russian oil this year.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president said, in a publication on X, that Russia attacked two Ukrainian airports before the Americans' visit to Kiev.
Zelensky had said that the Russian attacks on airports were a reaction to discussions about whether the American delegation would land in Kiev or Borispol on Sunday. “Russian-Iranian Shaheds in response to American diplomacy,” he wrote on Telegram, in reference to the drones used in the attacks.
A wide gap remains between Russia and Ukraine over how to end the war, which has lasted four and a half years and is the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin remained determined to conquer more territory.
"There is no chance of reaching an agreement on the front line until Putin finishes securing the rest of the Donetsk region," the source said, adding that the Russian leader is confident, based on reports from his commanders, that this will happen by the end of the year.
Western military analysts consider this possibility remote, given the slow pace of the Russian advance. Ukraine refuses to cede territories that it managed to defend at great cost and rejects these conditions, considering them equivalent to surrender.
The Kremlin said on Friday that the position put forward by Putin in a speech two years ago — that Ukraine should cede all territory in four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its plan to join NATO — remains "irreplaceable."
Since the last peace talks in February, both sides have stepped up long-range airstrikes against targets in rival territory, while the war at sea has also intensified. Not only have the front lines remained largely static, Russia has made only gradual advances in its attempt to conquer the entire Donbas region.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported this Saturday that it had registered 53 Ukrainian drones in Russian airspace, a number significantly lower than the average in recent months. Moscow celebrates City Day this Saturday, with hundreds of thousands of people taking part in outdoor festivities.
Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries sparked a summer of fuel shortages and rising prices for drivers in the country. Around 30 attacks on large department stores, mostly belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, have also affected the consumer economy.
