Trump Envoys Arrive in Moscow in New Push to End Ukraine War.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday as Washington makes another diplomatic push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has lasted for more than four and a half years.
The two are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday for talks with Ukrainian officials. Trump said ahead of their trip that they would carry a proposal aimed at bringing the war closer to an end.
“One of the things they will be doing is taking to both countries a preliminary agreement to end the war,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
The latest diplomatic effort comes despite continued fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, with attacks reported even as Washington seeks to advance negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched overnight strikes on airports in Kyiv and Boryspil. He described the attacks as a possible indication that Moscow did not want Witkoff and Kushner to meet with him.
In another attack, a Russian strike on a residential building in the Dnipro region killed four people and injured five others.
Witkoff and Kushner have travelled to Russia on separate occasions since Trump returned to office, but their planned visit to Ukraine would be their first. Previous US-Ukraine talks involving the two have been held outside Ukraine.
Their visit to Moscow also follows a meeting between CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow and Washington have not publicly disclosed what came out of the meeting, although Trump described the talks last week as “semi-routine.”
Witkoff serves as Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East and has also been involved in efforts concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, while Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, has joined him in the diplomatic initiative.
The United States and its allies have made repeated attempts to bring the conflict to an end, but those efforts have yet to produce a lasting ceasefire.
The planned meetings in Moscow and Kyiv are therefore being closely watched for signs of whether Washington can persuade the two sides to move towards a concrete agreement to stop the fighting.
