U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, September 6, for talks with Ukrainian leaders after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, according to the Associated Press. The visit marks their first official trip to Ukraine and represents a renewed attempt by President Donald Trump's administration to advance negotiations aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
The delegation met Putin at the Kremlin for more than three hours on Saturday. A White House official said the participants discussed substantive plans for next steps and expected further announcements in the coming weeks, while providing no details of the proposals. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the exchange as constructive and extremely frank and said the Americans presented several ideas on possible paths toward a settlement.
Witkoff and Kushner traveled directly from Moscow to Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared for a constructive discussion. Zelenskyy said Kyiv wanted to bring the end of the war closer and would emphasize the need for peace, security guarantees and a just and durable postwar settlement. Ukrainian proposals had been prepared before the U.S. delegation arrived, he added.
Officials from the U.S. National Security Council, State Department and Treasury Department joined the American delegation in Moscow, according to the White House. Ushakov said the talks also covered possible Russian-American economic projects, but neither side disclosed the substance of any potential agreement. Witkoff and Kushner made no public statement after leaving the Kremlin, and no ceasefire or breakthrough emerged from the meeting.
The diplomatic mission comes as aerial attacks by Russia and Ukraine have intensified. Both governments paused attacks on the other's capital during the envoys' visits, according to AP reporting, but they did not agree to a broader ceasefire. Moscow has continued to insist that any settlement address what it calls the root causes of the conflict, while Kyiv has maintained that its sovereignty and reliable security guarantees cannot be traded away.
The Kyiv meetings will test whether Washington can narrow positions that have resisted previous rounds of mediation. The White House indicated that more information on the next steps would come in the weeks ahead. Until negotiators disclose the proposals and both governments respond, the trip remains a diplomatic opening rather than evidence of an agreed route to end the war.
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