Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are set to travel to Russia and Ukraine to revive peace talks. The trip would be the pair’s first visit to Kyiv since US President Donald Trump’s reelection.
“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump told reporters Friday when asked about the pair’s trip. Kushner and Witkoff have served as Trump’s envoys to lead peace efforts in the Middle East as well as Ukraine.
The US president did not provide any details on the potential plan, including whether it involved Ukraine giving territory to Russia as he has previously suggested, instead, he said, “We have an idea for peace.”
Kushner and Witkoff’s first trip to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Kushner and Witkoff would travel to Ukraine on Sunday following talks in Moscow.
Recent media reports have questioned whether the pair would indeed travel to Ukraine. Despite trips to Moscow to meet with Russian officials, the US envoys have not visited Kyiv since Trump’s reelection last year.
Trump had promised to end the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, on his first day back in office, but has more recently commented that bringing an end to the war was more complicated than he expected. In the past, he has blamed Ukraine for the Russian invasion and a “personality problem” between the countries’ leaders for the continued fighting.
Zelenskyy vows to pause air attacks during talks
Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the negotiations and called on Moscow to do the same so talks could proceed safely.
“As with previous diplomatic visits by the American side, we will ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace so that the negotiators can arrive safely. We are concerned about their safety, not about Russia,” Zelenskyy said.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not confirm reports that US officials would visit Moscow, saying only that the media would be informed if such a meeting took place. Kushner and Witkoff were last in Moscow in January for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Wednesday, Putin described negotiations as “frozen.”
Drone strikes continue
Meanwhile, a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s domestic security service (SBU) in Kyiv on Friday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the strike “a major escalation” of the war.
“Moscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace — laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy,” he wrote on X.
Zelenskyy said he ordered “an appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike.”
Ukraine has also launched repeated drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and the retail giant Wildberries.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
DW News
