Putin holds three-hour Ukraine talks with Trump envoys

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held more than three hours of late-night talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as Washington seeks to revive efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The meeting took place at the Kremlin on Saturday and ended shortly after 11pm in Moscow, ahead of the envoys’ planned visit to Kyiv on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump had said Witkoff and Kushner were travelling with a “proposal” aimed at ending the conflict, which has continued since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Before the closed-door meeting, Putin thanked Trump for continuing his efforts to broker an end to the war despite the difficulties involved.

The Russian president has maintained that Moscow wants to capture the remaining parts of eastern Ukraine. Washington has not disclosed whether its latest proposal would require Kyiv to surrender territory.

The talks came after months of intensified fighting and a sharp increase in long-range attacks, with the conflict continuing to cause significant civilian casualties and displacement.

Ukraine reported on Saturday that Russian strikes had killed 10 people across the country, including three members of the same family in the Kharkiv region and two people in areas outside Kyiv.

Putin assured the visiting US officials that Russia would take measures to protect them during their planned trip to the Ukrainian capital.

“We will do everything that depends on us to ensure the safety of the negotiation process and mediators such as yourselves,” Putin told the envoys.

The planned Kyiv visit follows an agreement by Russia and Ukraine to temporarily halt attacks on each other’s capitals to create conditions for the diplomatic engagement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days beginning at midnight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also announced that his country would refrain from attacks on Moscow through Monday.

“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow,” Zelensky said on social media.

Putin later said he had been informed that Witkoff and Kushner would travel to Kyiv, describing contacts between the two sides as beneficial regardless of the outcome.

Zelensky has confirmed that he expects to meet the US envoys in Kyiv on Sunday.

The visit will mark the first time Witkoff and Kushner travel to the Ukrainian capital since Trump returned to the White House with a pledge to resolve the conflict.

Their mission comes amid renewed US diplomatic efforts after previous negotiations failed to produce a breakthrough.

Witkoff and Kushner have previously been involved in US diplomatic efforts concerning ceasefires in Gaza and Iran and have made several trips to Moscow as part of attempts to engage the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of attempting to disrupt the diplomatic initiative through a fresh wave of attacks.

Regional officials said Russian strikes hit areas around Kyiv and the Dnipro region, with five people reportedly killed in Dnipro.

In Kharkiv region, regional leader Oleg Synegubov said three members of one family were killed in the city of Chuhuiv.

“As a result of this shelling, almost the entire family was killed: a 19-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy, and a 45-year-old man,” he said.

Zelensky also accused Moscow of targeting civilian infrastructure and Kyiv’s airports ahead of the US delegation’s arrival.

Because Ukrainian airspace has remained closed since the start of the war, foreign officials visiting Kyiv have traditionally travelled by train rather than aircraft.

The latest diplomatic push also follows a rare visit to Moscow last month by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as Washington continues to explore avenues for ending the conflict.