US envoys meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv after talks with Putin in Moscow

Kyiv, Ukraine. US peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The meetings came as the Trump administration renewed its push to end Russia’s four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.

Talks in Kyiv

Kushner and Witkoff met Zelenskiy and other senior Ukrainian officials in central Kyiv. The first round of talks between Ukrainian and US negotiators lasted about three hours and included a working lunch.

After the meeting, Witkoff said the talks had been “substantive” and “important” and that the US envoys were encouraged by the discussions.

Zelenskiy said further talks involving European representatives were planned later on Sunday. British, French and German national security advisers were also in Kyiv.

Security guarantees

Zelenskiy said security guarantees and a dignified post-war peace were needed, adding that Ukraine’s proposals had been prepared before its negotiating team met the US envoys.

He has said Washington will be key to any peace agreement and that there is a window of opportunity for a settlement before the United States begins focusing on its next presidential election.

Moscow meeting

Kushner and Witkoff travelled to Kyiv from Moscow, where they held three hours of talks with Putin on Saturday. The discussions did not appear to produce a breakthrough.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the Moscow meeting as “highly useful”. A White House official told Reuters that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.

Previous US-mediated peace talks encouraged by President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, have yielded few results. Trump said on Friday that the United States had a new proposal, without providing details.