President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to pause airstrikes on Kyiv for three days as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrive for talks in Moscow and prepare to travel on to the Ukrainian capital.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the Kremlin had received information that Kyiv would also halt fire for three days. Witkoff and Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday, and Putin plans to meet both, Peskov said.
Expectations for the visit are extremely low, according to people close to the Kremlin. Previous trips by Witkoff and Kushner failed to achieve progress and there’s no reason to believe they’re bringing acceptable proposals now, the people said. Peskov on Saturday warned against jumping ahead on US proposals and asked to wait for Putin-Witkoff-Kushner meeting.
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Russia paused airstrikes on Kyiv as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived for talks, aiming to create a conducive environment for diplomatic discussions.
Zelenskyy’s proposal for a 72-hour ceasefire is intended to facilitate negotiations with US envoys, ensuring no airstrikes from either side during their visit.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff plan to revive stalled negotiations and present proposals aimed at ending the war while addressing regional stability.
Prior to the pause, hostilities were escalating, with Russian forces launching multiple airstrikes on Ukrainian territories, including day-time attacks on Kyiv.
The expectations for meaningful progress from the US envoys’ visit are low due to previous failed attempts at negotiations, making Ukraine cautious about the upcoming talks.
Putin is ready to stop the war only on his own terms, and Moscow’s demands are getting tougher because it believes it has the military edge over Ukraine, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
People familiar with the thinking in Kyiv said Ukraine is also pessimistic about making meaningful progress around the Witkoff-Kushner visit. The US envoys are expected to push previous ideas like making Donbas an economic free zone, which Russia has already rejected, the people said.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, US President Donald Trump said his envoys were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” without elaborating.
Kushner and Witkoff plan to travel to Ukraine on Sunday in what would be their first visit there since the war began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Friday on X. Kyiv’s goal is to make the visit “as constructive and substantive as possible,” he said. Ukraine won’t conduct airstrikes for the period needed for the US officials’ visit, Zelenskyy said — a vow that Moscow has now reciprocated.
Hostilities continued ahead of the pause. Ukraine’s General Staff on Saturday said Russian forces fired Iskander-M and KN-23 ballistic missiles along with 167 attack drones on Ukraine overnight. The strike targets included steel mills in the Dnipropetrovsk region and fuel depots near the Hostomel airfield, outside Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Russian strikes on airports overnight – in Kyiv and nearby Boryspil — were “demonstrative.”
“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine and land at Kyiv Airport or Boryspil Airport,” he wrote in post on X. “Russian-Iranian ‘shaheds’ in response to American diplomacy.”
“Ukraine is interested in bringing peace closer,” Zelenskyy added.
The Russian ministry reporting 53 Ukrainian drones downed across nine regions including Moscow. Ukrainian drone activity was somewhat lower than in recent days, when Kyiv’s forces launched hundreds of drones targeting Russian sites.
With assistance from Alberto Nardelli.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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