Witkoff And Kushner Arrive In Kyiv After Talks With Putin In Moscow

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Kyiv on Sunday of their first official go to to Ukraine as a part of a renewed push for peace greater than 4½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The journey by the Americans follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, as either side have escalated their aerial attacks. Washington’s push to finish the combating has misplaced momentum, with the Trump administration centered for the previous six months on the Iran war.

Russia has not too long ago been utilizing fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has change into part of daily life in Kyiv. Troops have struggled to make progress alongside the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) entrance line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Sunday that his authorities is prepared for a “constructive” dialogue with the U.S. emissaries.

“We are all in favour of bringing the top of the warfare nearer. Peace is required. Security ensures are wanted. A simply and sustainable postwar peace is required. Our proposals are ready,” Zelenskyy mentioned in a put up on Telegram.

The envoys arrived by practice and have been welcomed on the station in Ukraine’s capital by high-ranking Ukrainian officers, earlier than being met by Zelenskyy at a ceremony in St. Sophia Square.

A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on situation of anonymity as he was not licensed to talk publicly, mentioned Sunday afternoon that two rounds of dialogue had taken place with the U.S. officers, and {that a} third assembly with French, German and U.Ok. representatives was deliberate.

Much of the dialogue was centered on “methods to get by way of the winter and what may be completed earlier than then,” he mentioned.

Saturday’s assembly in Moscow lasted greater than three hours behind closed doorways and ended with none main developments being introduced. Putin’s overseas coverage adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described the talks as constructive, frank and helpful, however he didn’t focus on particular outcomes.

While Moscow supplied its “complete evaluation” of the battlefield scenario in Ukraine, Ushakov mentioned, the talks weren’t purely centered on the warfare in Ukraine.

“Economic points and doubtlessly giant, mutually useful joint tasks for Russia and America have been mentioned in appreciable element,” he mentioned.

The final identified go to to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January when additionally they held talks with Putin on the Kremlin.

Putin and Zelenskyy had agreed to pause strikes on one another’s capitals whereas the talks happen. Still, the 2 traded fireplace in a single day into Sunday, officers mentioned.

Russian assaults throughout a number of Ukrainian areas killed one particular person and wounded a minimum of 10 others in a single day into Sunday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service mentioned.

In Zaporizhzhia, drone strikes killed a 74-year-old man and wounded three folks, whereas a drone broken an condominium constructing, wounding seven folks, within the Khmelnytskyi area.

Ukraine’s air power mentioned Sunday that it intercepted 82 drones out of the 108 launched by Russia in a single day, together with six missiles.

In Russia, a person was killed and a girl was critically wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a automobile, native authorities within the Belgorod border area mentioned.

The Russian Defense Ministry mentioned Sunday that its air defenses in a single day shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian areas, the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the waters of the Black and Azov Seas.

In Kyiv on Sunday, dozens gathered for a nationwide 9 a.m. second of silence honoring Ukraine’s fallen troopers, a each day ritual held in cities throughout the nation.

Nataliia Lipei, 67, whose son Viktor was killed in December 2022, was amongst those that attended. Despite a well being situation, she has traveled from metropolis to metropolis to participate, and he or she mentioned that she hopes the talks in Moscow and Kyiv will lastly convey an finish to the warfare.

“I hope these steps and these conferences will certainly produce outcomes, as a result of there was a lot bloodshed and so many deaths right here that we’ve to cease all of this,” Lipei advised The Associated Press.

Not everybody shared her hope for the talks. Oleksandr Pastukhov, a 27-year-old video editor who joined the commemoration, was skeptical that the envoys’ go to would change something.

“We’ve already seen delegations like this come right here earlier than,” he mentioned. “We’ve seen this so-called ceasefire for 3 days, which ended after simply a few hours, and now we’re alleged to naively suppose that two folks will come and alter one thing.”

In his Sunday prayer, Pope Leo XIV renewed his enchantment for peace in Ukraine and mentioned he hopes the negotiations will convey outcomes.

“I hope that the efforts undertaken in current days to renew negotiations will bear concrete fruit and make method for statecraft,” he advised the gathered devoted in St. Peter’s Square on the Vatican.