
AI-generated summary
After Trump returned to office in early 2025, the U.S. launched an intensive push for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal focused on territorial compromises, security guarantees for Ukraine and postwar reconstruction. Washington initially put heavy pressure on Kyiv to accept the proposals, but by early 2026, the talks broke down.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow and Kyiv in the coming days in an apparent attempt to restart stalled negotiations to end the Ukraine war, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“We discussed today that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow and then Kyiv on Sunday,” the Ukrainian president wrote.
No details about the substance of the meetings have been released, but a U.S. official told CNN Friday that Witkoff and Kushner intend to press for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.
Russian state news agency TASS reported that Witkoff and Kushner “intend to travel to Moscow and Kyiv on September 5-6.”
The men have been key U.S. mediators in the stalled Ukraine peace talks. Witkoff made several trips to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2025 and early 2026 and met with Zelenskyy in the U.S., Germany and France. This will be their first trip to Kyiv.
After Trump returned to office in early 2025, the U.S. launched an intensive push for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal focused on territorial compromises, security guarantees for Ukraine and postwar reconstruction. Washington initially put heavy pressure on Kyiv to accept the proposals, but by early 2026, the talks broke down.
In recent weeks, Washington has renewed its efforts to engage with Moscow, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe visiting the Russian capital in late August. Ratcliffe used the trip to press Russia to reduce its military and economic support to Iran and urge it not to escalate conflict with America’s NATO allies.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Witkoff and Kushner will press for a diplomatic solution to end the Ukraine conflict during their visits to Moscow and Kyiv.
Likely · Within days

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni marked her government's 1,413-day tenure in Bari, surpassing Silvio Berlusconi's record to become the longest-serving administration in Italian Republic history, framing stability as a reform achievement while addressing justice, security, and 2027 election prospects amid opposition criticism over unresolved economic and social issues.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s space summit in Paris faces setbacks as U.S. firms SpaceX and Blue Origin skip the event, amid coordination issues and unclear outcomes.

Nigel Farage plans to visit France by the end of October to meet Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally, following a joint agreement at the Reform UK conference to deport illegal Channel migrants back to France, with further visits to European right-wing leaders planned before 2026.

Nigel Farage and Jordan Bardella signed a memorandum of understanding at Reform UK's annual conference in Birmingham to curb migrant crossings in the English Channel, but the agreement leaves unresolved whether France will accept returned migrants, with the French version lacking key wording and final authority resting on future electoral outcomes.

Two of Nigel Farage's closest advisers, Dan Jukes and James Orr, resigned from Reform UK following an undercover Channel 4 investigation into alleged improper donation practices, which revealed discussions of clandestine funding arrangements and favorable polling. The resignations occurred during the party's Birmingham conference, overshadowing Farage's efforts to project seriousness after a summer by-election campaign.

Marine Le Pen's National Rally party is under fire from center-right rivals Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal after National Rally vice president Louis Aliot suggested France might limit military aid to Ukraine if Le Pen wins the presidency, with critics accusing the party of playing into Russia's hands despite Le Pen's calls for a peace conference.