Vladimir Putin welcomes US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for talks in Moscow on Saturday [Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP]By Al Jazeera Staff and AFPPublished On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with envoys from the United States on ending more than four years of war in Ukraine, ahead of their expected visit to Kyiv on Sunday.
Putin met Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday.
“Dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you to Moscow. The situation is, of course, not simple,” Putin told the envoys in a ceremony aired on Russian TV.
Both Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, as Washington tries to revive US-led talks to end Europe’s worst conflict since the Second World War.
Earlier, Trump said son-in-law Kushner and Witkoff, his special envoy and business ally, were bringing “a proposal to end the war”.
In Putin’s address to them, he said: “I would like to ask everyone to convey their best wishes and words of gratitude to US President Mr Trump”.
Witkoff said Trump had sent his best wishes to Putin and thanked him for the limited ceasefire during the delegation’s visit. Putin said Russia would do its utmost to ensure the safety of the mediators.
The talks come as the grinding war – which began with the Russian invasion in 2022 – has seen increasing civilian deaths and attacks this summer.
Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.
Russian strikes on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least seven people, including in the Kyiv suburbs, Ukrainian officials said.
The Kremlin said it would not strike Kyiv from midnight on Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would halt strikes on Moscow “from now” until Monday.
“The Russian president, the commander-in-chief, has given the order from midnight tonight not to strike Kyiv for three days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Zelenskyy – who had offered a truce during the US visits – later said he had spoken to the US envoys and also promised Kyiv would not strike Moscow.
“From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
The Ukrainian leader said he had spoken to the US officials and that he expected them in Kyiv on Sunday.
It will be Witkoff and Kushner’s first visit to Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.
