U.S. Envoys Meet Putin as Russia and Ukraine Pause Strikes on Capitals

President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday and are expected in Kyiv on Sunday, their first visit to Ukraine, according to AFP’s report carried by Dawn. Both countries announced limited pauses on strikes against each other’s capitals while the visits take place. Ukraine had separately proposed a ceasefire for the envoys’ trip, and Dawn said Russia did not immediately comment on it.

“Dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you to Moscow. The situation is, of course, not simple,” Putin told the envoys, per Dawn. Trump said they were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war.” He would not say whether the plan involves Ukraine ceding territory, telling reporters only, “We have an idea for peace.” Trump said the envoys would gauge whether progress is possible. Before the trip he said, in the Kyiv Independent’s account, “It’s got to get settled.”

The Kremlin’s pause was announced through spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Putin ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days starting “at midnight today,” Peskov said, according to Russian state media as reported by the Kyiv Independent. Peskov did not say whether he meant Saturday or Sunday, so the exact start and end are unclear, and the paper noted the order described only Kyiv. Peskov tied it to preparations for the envoys’ visit there.

Ukraine’s pause came first, in broader form. The Kyiv Independent reported on Friday, citing Ukrainska Pravda and military sources, that Ukrainian units had been ordered to halt fighting from Sept. 5 to 8, a proposal for which no formal agreement had been announced. After a call with the U.S. side, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would refrain from strikes on Moscow through the end of Sept. 7, and said Ukraine was ready to halt strikes on cities involved in the negotiations, according to the Kyiv Independent. It reported that he said the diplomatic meetings planned in Kyiv on Sunday had been approved. Dawn quoted him as saying Ukraine would conduct no airstrikes and “Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire.”

The fighting did not stop. Zelensky accused Russia of striking Kyiv’s two airports overnight, which he said was a reaction to the planned American visit, the Kyiv Independent and Dawn reported. A Russian strike killed five people in the Dnipro region, Dawn said, and another reportedly killed four in Kamianske. The Kyiv Independent reported that Russia had initially not accepted Ukraine’s wider proposed pause and kept attacking on Saturday. Zelensky said Ukraine would pose no threats to diplomacy but was preparing a response to Russia’s attacks starting the following week, the Kyiv Independent reported.

The visit follows a hard stretch for Kyiv. The Kyiv Independent reported that Russia has intensified drone attacks on the capital since late August, with at least 53 people killed and 112 injured in Kyiv and the surrounding region since Aug. 27.

What the envoys carry remains unknown. The reports did not describe the proposal, and the pauses cover only a few days and, in Russia’s case, apparently only Kyiv. Their meeting with Zelensky on Sunday will show whether either side is ready to talk beyond the pause.