Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered a pause in strikes on Kyiv for three days starting at midnight, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The announcement was made as US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive a stalled push to end the longdrawn Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The move is reportedly linked to talks with the American negotiators, with Putin also expected to meet US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner today.
“Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency. He said the decision was tied to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Kyiv has said will take place on Sunday.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian state news outlets reported.
The visit came as both sides escalated their aerial attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier said that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ trip and urged Moscow to do the same. Moscow did not publicly respond to the proposal.
Washington’s push to end the fighting, now in its fifth year, has lost momentum as US attention has been focused for the last six months on its war with Iran.
The envoys were met at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s state news agency Tass said. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting the US delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.”
The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have never visited Kyiv, but Zelenskyy said he was expecting them in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.