President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, marking the first time they’ve visited the Ukrainian capital in their role in negotiations on the war in Ukraine.
The pair traveled to Kyiv following a visit to Moscow, where they held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about three hours. While there was no sign of any breakthrough, both sides said the talks were positive and constructive.
Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Kyiv produced similar statements, but there was also no sign of any breakthrough. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he held three rounds of talks with the US envoy, including a session with European officials.
“Today, we had three rounds of negotiations. All of them were very substantive. I want to thank Steve and Jared for coming. And we are grateful to the President of the United States. We had good discussions,” Zelensky said after the talks.
The Ukrainian leader said that if the war continues through the winter, he hopes the US and European countries will provide a “winter package,” and that Ukraine is “counting on support for air defense and the energy sector, as well as substantial volumes of American LNG and the ability to use them.” Axios reported that Witkoff and Kushner said during the talks they hoped for a breakthrough to end the war by winter.
To facilitate the talks, Putin ordered a halt to Russia’s attacks on Kyiv, and Ukraine refrained from targeting Moscow with drones, but attacks continued elsewhere. According to The Associated Press, at least one person, a 74-year-old man, was killed by Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that its forces intercepted 258 drones over multiple Russian regions overnight. Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to the region came after Zelensky threatened a major escalation of drone attacks, warning that Russia’s airspace will no longer be safe for civilian aircraft.
