US President Donald Trump has stepped up diplomatic
efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and
Jared Kushner on a fresh mission to Moscow and Kyiv.
According to reports, Witkoff and Kushner are expected
to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday before
travelling to Kyiv on Sunday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky.
The diplomatic initiative represents Washington’s
latest attempt to break the deadlock in the conflict, which began with Russia’s
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Kremlin has declined to comment on the planned
visit, while Trump expressed optimism about the mission during remarks at the
Oval Office.
“I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great
negotiators. They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or
not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do
it,” Trump said.
He added that the two envoys would take a proposal
aimed at ending the war.
“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the
war,” Trump said.
When asked whether the proposal would require Ukraine
to give up territory, Trump declined to provide details, saying only that the
US had “an idea for peace.”
The planned trip would mark the first visit to Kyiv by
Witkoff and Kushner since Trump returned to the White House with a pledge to
bring an end to the conflict.
The two envoys have previously participated in
diplomatic efforts in Moscow and have also been involved in negotiations
relating to ceasefires in Gaza and Iran.
The latest diplomatic push comes amid an
intensification of long-range missile and drone attacks between Russia and
Ukraine.
Hours before Trump announced the mission, a Russian
drone strike reportedly hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service
in central Kyiv. Zelensky said the attack targeted the office of the agency’s
acting chief and described it as the first direct strike on the SBU
headquarters since the beginning of the war.
In response, Zelensky proposed a temporary ceasefire
for the duration of the US delegation’s visit.
“There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia
must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire — without its own airstrikes — for the
duration needed to conduct these talks,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
However, violence continued in other parts of Ukraine.
Local authorities in the Dnipropetrovsk region reported that a Russian strike
killed four people and injured five others in the city of Kamianske.
Moscow had not issued an official response to
Zelensky’s ceasefire proposal at the time of the report.
The diplomatic mission follows a series of recent
high-level engagements, including a visit to Moscow by CIA Director John
Ratcliffe and the attendance of Russia’s finance minister at a G20 gathering in
North Carolina.
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