Putin Meets US Envoys at the Kremlin in a Fresh Push to End the Ukraine War

On Saturday, the Kremlin’s historic halls echoed with the voices of three unlikely visitors: Russian President Vladimir Putin, former U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the ex‑son‑in‑law of former President Donald Trump. The three‑hour, closed‑door meeting was, to put it mildly, a high‑stakes attempt to breathe new life into a peace process that has been sputtering for years.

Both sides, perhaps out of a thin thread of practicality, agreed to pause their air raids on each other’s capitals during the talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency Tass that no strikes would hit Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight. In a matching gesture, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would hold fire on Moscow until Monday, saying he’d spoken with the U.S. delegation after they landed.

It’s worth noting that Washington’s attention has been largely diverted to the ongoing Iran conflict for the past six months. The last time Witkoff and Kushner set foot in Moscow was back in January, when they also sat across from Putin for a brief but tense discussion. This week, they’re slated to head to Kyiv for the first time—a move Ukrainian officials say could signal a serious step forward.

When the American team arrived, they were greeted at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who posted photos on social media with the caption, “Welcome to Moscow, Peacemakers.” The warm welcome seemed at odds with the brutal reality on the ground: Russian drones were still rattling Kyiv’s skies, and a recent strike on the SBU headquarters—Ukraine’s security service—reminded everyone that the war’s violence is far from over.

Putin, in a brief remark that felt almost like a personal note, asked Kushner and Witkoff to pass his gratitude to Donald Trump. He described the Ukrainian situation as “not simple,” a phrase that, while diplomatic, barely conceals the complexity of a war that has now stretched over four years.

Meanwhile, the fighting on the 1,250‑kilometer front line shows no sign of easing. Russian forces have turned to fast, jet‑powered drones, and the wail of air‑raid sirens is now part of everyday life in Kyiv. Ukrainian long‑range strikes have been targeting Russian military sites, oil refineries, and even e‑commerce hubs—a strategy meant to dent the Kremlin’s war economy and remind ordinary Russians of the cost of the conflict.

Zelenskyy didn’t shy away from linking recent Russian attacks on Kyiv’s Boryspil airport to the U.S. delegation’s presence. In a social‑media post, he suggested the strikes were a reaction to “discussions and preparations” for potential U.S. aircraft traveling to Ukraine. He promised that Kyiv would adjust its operations accordingly but insisted there would be no threat to diplomacy from Ukraine’s side.

The human toll continues to mount. In Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile strike on an industrial facility killed five civilians—ordinary workers like a locksmith, an electrician, a plumber, and a machinist—while wounding five more. Nearby, a drone hit a house in the Kharkiv region, killing three and injuring a woman. Russia’s defense ministry later claimed the attacks hit two metallurgical plants that supply the Ukrainian military, but the civilian casualties paint a starkly different picture.

All of these developments underscore how fragile any diplomatic breakthrough is. The talks in the Kremlin may have been a glimmer of hope, but the relentless bombardment, the lingering grievances, and the shifting geopolitical focus make it clear that any path to peace will be anything but smooth.