US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held “encouraging” talks in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push to end more than 4½ years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Their trip follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, seeking to revive peace talks during escalating aerial attacks by both sides. Washington’s push to end the fighting has lost momentum, with the Trump administration focused for the past six months on the Iran war.
Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv. Troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250km (775-mile) front line.
Following two rounds of discussion with the U.S. officials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the goal was a “just, fair peace” that would ensure there was “never an opportunity to resume aggression against Ukraine”.
He also thanked the American negotiators, who travelled by train, for coming to Kyiv, their first time in Ukraine. Zelensky said the next round of talks later on Sunday would bring in national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany.
“We’ve had very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we’re very encouraged,” Witkoff said.