US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow and begun talks with Vladimir Putin in a renewed attempt by the Trump administration to break the deadlock over Russia's war in Ukraine.
The visit marks one of Washington's most significant diplomatic pushes in months, bringing two of President Donald Trump's closest negotiators directly to the Kremlin before they are expected to travel to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Witoff, Trump's special envoy and Kushner, the president's son-in-law, arrived in the Russian capital on Saturday and were received by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's investment envoy and key figure in contacts between Moscow and Washington. They were then expected to meet Putin alongside senior Russian officials.
Witkoff and Kushner visited Moscow to engage in peace talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over Russia's war in Ukraine and to determine if serious negotiations could resume.
Putin ordered a temporary pause in airstrikes on Kyiv as a gesture during the US envoys' visit, aiming to create a diplomatic window for potential negotiations.
The US aims to revive peace talks by sending envoys Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a new peace proposal, seeking to create dialogue on contentious issues like territory and security.
Ukraine is wary of accepting concessions that might reward Russia's invasion, as they believe such actions could undermine their sovereignty and security.
Witkoff and Kushner face significant challenges due to entrenched differences over territorial demands, military guarantees, and Ukraine's future relationship with NATO, which have historically stalled negotiations.
Their mission comes with a new US peace proposal in hand, although the full details of the plan have not been fully publicly disclosed.
The talks are taking place against a familiar and deeply entrenched problem: Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on the territorial and security questions that have repeatedly frustrated attempts to end the war.
Russia has continued to press Ukraine to surrender territory in the Donetsk region and abandon its ambitions to join NATO. Kyiv has rejected both demands, arguing that accepting such terms would reward Russia's invasion and leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks.
The US delegation's trip is therefore less a sign that a peace agreement is imminent than an attempt to determine whether there is enough room left for serious negotiations.
The diplomatic mission has also been accompanied by a temporary reduction in attacks around Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin ordered a three-day pause in military strikes against Kyiv, while Zelenskyy announced a reciprocal halt in strikes on Moscow during the American envoys' visit. The arrangement is limited and does not amount to a broader ceasefire, but it has created a brief diplomatic window around the meetings – a narrow one at that.
The war is now in its fifth year, and previous rounds of negotiations have repeatedly stalled when discussions moved from humanitarian issues to the politically explosive questions of territory, military guarantees and Ukraine's future relationship with the West.
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