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U.S. President Donald Trump’s special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Ukraine on September 6 for their first visit to the country.
The two U.S. envoys were met in Kyiv by members of Ukraine’s negotiating team — Kyrylo Budanov, Davyd Arakhamia and Rustem Umerov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the negotiating team ahead of the visit. He said Ukraine was ready for talks and had prepared its own proposals for achieving peace.
Talks in Moscow
On September 5, Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Moscow, where they held a three-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “substantive, constructive, extremely frank and trusting.” He said the U.S. representatives had promised to use Putin’s assessments and views during their subsequent contacts in Kyiv.
Reuters, citing a White House official, reported that the talks were substantive and that further steps would be announced in the coming weeks.
The American envoys did not comment publicly on their Moscow visit.
According to media reports, the U.S. delegation included representatives of the National Security Council, State Department and Treasury Department.
After the meeting, Witkoff and Kushner’s aircraft reportedly left Moscow at 12:29 a.m. and landed at Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport in Poland at 2:31 a.m.
Ukraine expects progress
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would refrain from strikes on Moscow during the U.S. envoys’ visit and expected Russia to observe a reciprocal pause in attacks on Ukraine.
Kyiv had also proposed a temporary ceasefire along the front, but Russia has not responded to that initiative.
The Kremlin subsequently said Putin had ordered Russian forces to refrain from striking Kyiv for three days starting at midnight on September 6.
Trump has said that Witkoff and Kushner are traveling to Moscow and Kyiv with a proposal aimed at ending the war.
