US envoys Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin in Moscow to discuss Ukraine peace plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met envoys from the United States for talks to end more than four years of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived at the Kremlin on Saturday after landing in Moscow earlier in the day. The envoys are expected in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.

Putin welcomed the two in a ceremony aired on Russian television, telling them: “The situation is, of course, not simple.”

US President Donald Trump had said that Kushner, his son-in-law, and Witkoff, his special envoy and business ally, were bringing “a proposal to end the war”.

Following three hours of talks, senior ⁠Russian ⁠official Kirill Dmitriev, who was also part of the meetings, said the envoys’ ⁠trip to Moscow was an “important peacemaking visit”.

Russia and Ukraine both pledged not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, as Washington tries to revive talks to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said that “a whole series of ideas for a peace settlement” had been formulated during the talks, which he described to reporters as “substantive, very frank and constructive”.

He said Putin told the envoys that Russia would achieve its objectives and that the “root causes” of the conflict needed to be resolved.

Moscow is “confident” it can achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Ushakov added.

Witkoff and Kushner “promised to take Putin’s assessments” to their talks in Kyiv, Ushakov said, and the two sides agreed that Putin and Trump would stay in touch.

Witkoff told Putin that the US president had sent his best wishes and ⁠⁠thanked him for ⁠⁠the limited ceasefire during the delegation’s visit. The Russian president also conveyed gratitude to Trump and said ⁠⁠Moscow would do its ⁠⁠utmost to ensure ⁠⁠the safety of the mediators.

During the talks, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said there were “some more or less optimistic reports” from the Kremlin regarding the progress of the discussions.

On the one hand, Putin says he “remains publicly open to peace talks”, said Shapovalova. But on the other, “following all of Ukraine’s escalating drone operations deep inside Russia and the targeting of major economic and logistics hubs like oil infrastructure and online retailers”, he maintains that he will not make any concessions on any key issues, that major differences remain in place, and that he will not negotiate with “terrorists”.

The envoys left Moscow on Saturday evening en route to Kyiv, Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti reported.

Some analysts say that the “expectation in the Kremlin for this particular visit of the US envoys is actually less pessimistic, because previous trips by Witkoff and Kushner have not led to any progress, and Putin believes that Russia holds a military advantage on the battlefield”, Shapovalova added.

‘Refrain from strikes’

The talks come as the grinding war – which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – has seen increasing civilian deaths and attacks in the past few months.

After seizing and occupying a majority of eastern Ukraine, Putin has repeatedly said that Moscow intends to take the rest of it.

Russian strikes on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least seven people, including in the Kyiv suburbs, Ukrainian officials said.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region killed one person and injured another, according to local authorities.

The Kremlin said it would not strike Kyiv from midnight on Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would halt attacks on Moscow “from now” until Monday.

“The Russian president, the commander-in-chief, has given the order from midnight tonight not to strike Kyiv for three days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Zelenskyy – who had offered a truce during the US visits – later said he had spoken to the US envoys and also promised Kyiv would not strike Moscow.

“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

The Ukrainian leader said he expected the US officials in Kyiv on Sunday.

It will be Witkoff and Kushner’s first visit to Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.

Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said the US envoys’ visit to Ukraine is being viewed as a “milestone” in the country.

However, the visit is seen as more ceremonial than one “going to lead to any real concrete results, though, of course, we still have to wait for the outcome of these meetings”, she said.

Many people in Ukraine believe that “foreign diplomats need to come here to fully understand the scope of the war, so this is very important to Ukrainian officials to have these representatives from the US here tomorrow”, Macalpine added.