US peace envoys arrive in Kyiv visit after talks with Putin

American envoys Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner discussed what they called substantive plans for next steps to end the Ukraine war during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the White House said, before they headed to Kiev on Sunday. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the talks as constructive, frank and useful afterward, but didn't talk about specific outcomes. He said the Russian side told the Americans that Moscow was confident it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other's capitals for three days to allow for the negotiations to take place. It was Kushner and Whitkoff's eighth visit to Moscow during the war, but it's their first visit to the Ukrainian capital. 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. Russia has occupied large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, and Putin has insisted Moscow is intent on seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine.