KYIV, Ukraine: US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on efforts to end the war with Russia, a day after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as Washington seeks to revive stalled peace negotiations.
The US envoys arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train, hoping to revive negotiations to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, after a summer of escalation.
Zelensky published a video of meeting US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Kushner and business partner Witkoff in central Kyiv, saying: “We began talks.”
We began talks.
Почали перемовини.
🇺🇦 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UkJV6CzOag— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 6, 2026
Witkoff and Kushner have visited Moscow eight times but had never held talks in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s top security officials and negotiators were also present, along with several European national security advisors, AFP reported.
Zelensky showed the US envoys Kyiv’s historic Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, opposite the SBU security building, hit by a Russian drone Friday.
Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin on Saturday to “advance President Trump’s agenda of peace in the Russia-Ukraine War”, a White House official said in a statement to AFP.
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“The two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and look forward to equally productive meetings tomorrow in Ukraine.”
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks “extremely frank”, saying the Americans “put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement”, but did not elaborate.
The Russian side told the Americans that Moscow was “confident” it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Ushakov added.
Both Russia and Ukraine have vowed not to strike each other’s capitals for three days around the Americans’ visit.
Zelensky on Sunday said Ukraine was “ready for the conversation”.
“Ukraine has always been and will remain constructive,” the wartime leader said on social media ahead of their visit.
Нарада з нашою переговорною групою перед зустріччю з представниками Президента Америки. Готові до розмови. Україна завжди є і буде конструктивною. Ми зацікавлені у наближенні завершення війни. Мир потрібен. Гарантії безпеки потрібні. Достойний характер повоєнного миру потрібен.…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 6, 2026
The country’s airspace has been closed since the war started in 2022, and visiting leaders have been arriving by train.
Putin thanks Trump
In televised comments before the talks, Putin said Russia would ensure the safety of the envoys in Kyiv.
“We will do everything that depends on us to ensure the safety of the negotiation process and mediators such as yourselves,” Putin told Witkoff and Kushner.
Earlier Saturday, Putin had thanked Trump for persisting in his efforts to end the war despite it being “not simple”.
Of the envoys’ trip to Kyiv, he said: “No matter what happens next, contacts of this kind are undoubtedly always beneficial.”
Trump said on Friday his envoys were bringing a “proposal” to end the fighting.
“We have an idea for peace,” he said, without elaborating.
US efforts have so far not led to a breakthrough in the war, and peace efforts have stalled, in part because of Washington’s war with Iran.
