US special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, with the warring sides offering to curtail attacks during the discussions. Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS news agency that President Vladimir Putin would meet Witkoff and Kushner in the Kremlin later on Saturday. envoys are then expected to visit Kyiv the following day.
President Donald Trump suggested on Friday the U.S. had a fresh concrete proposal aimed at ending the war, which is now in its fifth year. He did not, however, elaborate on what that proposal would be.
Witkoff and Kushner landed at Moscow's governmental airport where they were met by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. A motorcade then took the three men into the city, a Dmitriev, who told S. negotiators during a pause in their visits to Russia, took part in all their previous meetings with Putin alongside Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
He also played a role in negotiating U.S. sanction waivers for Russian oil this year. Peskov said in a statement posted on the Kremlin's channel in Max messenger that Putin had ordered the military not to strike Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight on Saturday, in connection with Witkoff and Kushner's visit to the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had spoken to the two U.S. envoys set to visit Ukraine on Sunday, adding that Ukraine was prepared to refrain from strikes on Moscow from now through Monday and expected Russia to reciprocate by halting strikes on Kyiv. The Russian Defence Ministry reported 53 Ukrainian drones in Russian airspace on Saturday, significantly fewer than the average seen in recent months.
Moscow is celebrating City Day on Saturday, with hundreds of thousands of people taking part in open-air festivities across the city.