U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner described talks with Ukrainian leaders as encouraging after carrying new proposals from Moscow to Kyiv, though major disputes over territory and security remain unresolved.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner said they made progress during their first official visit to Kyiv on Sunday, expressing optimism that direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine can be revived after more than three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow a day earlier.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held three rounds of discussions with the Americans, with national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany joining the final session. The talks covered possible pathways toward ending the more than 4½-year war as well as Ukraine’s immediate military needs, long-term security guarantees and economic support for postwar reconstruction.
Witkoff said Washington remains focused on “a diplomatic resolution to this conflict, not a kinetic resolution.” He said Saturday’s Kremlin discussions produced “new ideas” that he and Kushner brought directly to Kyiv, adding that the participation of advisers from France, Germany and Britain demonstrated that “collaboration is critical” to reaching an agreement.
Both Moscow and Kyiv would have to compromise, Witkoff acknowledged, but he said the administration believes a negotiated settlement remains possible. “We think we have the ingredients to get to that place,” he said.
Kushner similarly said the United States is seeking a “win-win” outcome rather than simply pressuring one side to accept the other’s terms. He said President Donald Trump is focused not only on stopping the fighting but on creating “a framework that could actually lead to a durable peace.” Kushner described Saturday’s meeting with Putin as “constructive and substantive” and said the discussions explored what Russia, Ukraine and the broader international community could gain from a settlement.
The two envoys hope to revive trilateral negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States, a format last used roughly six months ago. Kushner said Washington has remained in near-daily communication with Ukrainian officials even during the recent slowdown in diplomatic activity, which coincided with the administration’s increased focus on the Iran war.
Zelenskyy said several major issues remain unresolved, particularly territory. He said the territorial question “remains relevant” but argued that such difficult decisions “can only be resolved at the level of leaders.” He also emphasized that any settlement must include lasting security arrangements, saying a strong Ukrainian military remains “one of the main guarantees of security.”
Immediate defense requirements formed another major part of Sunday’s talks. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is seeking “serious volumes” of American support for a winter package combining air defense with protection for energy infrastructure as colder weather approaches. Kyiv is particularly seeking additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles, with European governments expected to help support the effort.
The Ukrainian president said the United States plans to increase production of Patriot interceptor missiles next year and that Germany is also expanding production under existing licensing arrangements. Ukraine is simultaneously working with 67 domestic companies developing systems capable of destroying Russia’s increasingly common jet-powered drones.
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of deliberately intensifying attacks on Ukrainian cities ahead of Russia’s State Duma election later this month, calling the strikes “terror” directed against civilians. Russia, meanwhile, has accused Ukraine of escalating its own long-range attacks against Russian territory and infrastructure.
Despite a limited agreement between Putin and Zelenskyy to refrain from striking each other’s capitals during the diplomatic mission, heavy attacks continued elsewhere overnight. Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes across several regions killed one person and wounded at least 10. A 74-year-old man was killed and three people were wounded in drone attacks in Zaporizhzhia, while seven people were wounded when a drone damaged an apartment building in the Khmelnytskyi region.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 108 drones and six missiles overnight, with Ukrainian defenses intercepting 82 of the drones. Across the border, authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region said a Ukrainian drone struck a vehicle, killing a man and seriously wounding a woman. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
The continuing air war underscores how little has changed militarily despite the renewed diplomacy. Troops have struggled to make significant advances along the roughly 1,250-kilometer, or 775-mile, front, while both sides increasingly rely on drones and missiles to strike targets far behind the battlefield.
Saturday’s Kremlin meeting also ended without an announced breakthrough. Putin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the more than three-hour discussion as constructive, frank and useful and said Moscow gave the Americans a “comprehensive assessment” of the battlefield. He also said the discussions extended beyond Ukraine.
“Economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America were discussed in considerable detail,” Ushakov said.
Witkoff and Kushner last met Putin at the Kremlin in January. Their movement directly from Moscow to Kyiv this weekend reflects Washington’s attempt to narrow the remaining differences by carrying proposals between the two governments rather than relying solely on indirect exchanges.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine, the United States and European partners agreed to another meeting, although no location has been selected. The planned session is expected to continue work on territorial questions, security guarantees, military support and the economic framework surrounding any eventual settlement.
The diplomatic push unfolded against the daily human toll of the war. In Kyiv on Sunday morning, dozens of people gathered for the nationwide 9 a.m. moment of silence honoring Ukrainian soldiers killed in the conflict.
Nataliia Lipei, 67, whose son Viktor was killed in December 2022, said she continues traveling from city to city to participate despite a health condition and hopes the latest diplomacy produces an end to the fighting.
“I hope these steps and these meetings will definitely produce results, because there has been so much bloodshed and so many deaths here that we have to stop all of this,” Lipei told The Associated Press.
Others remained skeptical. Oleksandr Pastukhov, a 27-year-old video editor who attended the commemoration, said repeated diplomatic efforts and short-lived pauses in fighting have given Ukrainians reason to doubt that another visit will fundamentally change the war.
“We’ve already seen delegations like this come here before,” Pastukhov said. “We’ve seen this so-called ceasefire for three days, which ended after just a couple of hours, and now we’re supposed to naively think that two people will come and change something.”
Pope Leo XIV also addressed the renewed diplomacy during his Sunday prayer at the Vatican.
“I hope that the efforts undertaken in recent days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and make way for diplomacy,” he told worshippers gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
For now, the Moscow and Kyiv meetings have produced renewed dialogue rather than an agreement. Witkoff and Kushner say they heard new proposals, both sides remain engaged, and plans are being made for another round involving the United States, Ukraine and European partners.
The central obstacles, however, remain substantial. Territory has not been resolved, security guarantees are still being negotiated and the aerial war continues even while diplomats discuss peace. The next test will be whether the “new ideas” carried from Moscow to Kyiv can produce the renewed direct negotiations Washington is now seeking.
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