By Max Hunder
KYIV, Sept 6 (Reuters) - U.S. peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff heralded new momentum in peace talks after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday as the
Trump administration renewed its push to end Russia's four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.
Kushner and Witkoff travelled from Moscow, where they held three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday but did not appear to secure a breakthrough in the conflict.
Witkoff, President Donald Trump's envoy, said they had "heard new ideas" in Moscow, which they did not detail, and they hoped a new round of U.S.-mediated Ukraine-Russia talks would be announced "in short order."
Zelenskiy praised the "very substantive" conversation with Witkoff and Kushner and said Ukraine was ready for trilateral talks. He said he also discussed air defence supplies and energy support for Ukraine ahead of winter, with Russia expected to bomb Ukraine's power grid again.
Previous rounds of U.S.-mediated peace talks encouraged by Trump, who campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, have yielded few results. He suggested on Friday that the U.S. had a fresh proposal, though he did not elaborate.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described Saturday's meeting as "highly useful", while a White House official told Reuters that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.
"We made a lot of progress in Moscow," Witkoff told reporters in Kyiv on Sunday, adding that he was "very encouraged" by his conversations with the Ukrainian team.
The Ukrainian president, who believes Washington will be key to any peace deal, has said a window of opportunity to make peace exists before the U.S. begins focusing on its next presidential election in 2028.
The U.S. envoys held several hours of talks with Ukrainian officials. British, French and German national security advisers, who were also in Kyiv, joined for the final hour. The U.S.-Ukrainian discussions were due to continue on Sunday evening.
During a break, Zelenskiy said officials discussed the possibility of security and economic guarantees for Kyiv, as well as a post-war "prosperity plan."
"In the last 10 to 12 months, I believe we have got stronger," Zelenskiy said, adding that the U.S. and Europe had noted this.
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM ON THE STREETS OF KYIV
Witkoff and Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, have visited Moscow several times in their roles as peace envoys. But Sunday was their first visit to Kyiv in their capacity as U.S. negotiators.
Their visit has long been sought by Ukraine's leadership, and on the streets of Kyiv, which has been bombarded heavily in recent weeks, some residents were hopeful.
"The issue can be solved in the blink of an eye. We want peace. I've fought myself, so I know what war is like. We need peace, because there's no other way," said military veteran Stepan Yermak.
In previous talks, the sides have remained far apart on key issues, including the future of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. Russia has demanded Ukraine's withdrawal from a belt of towns that it still controls there, but Kyiv has refused, reasoning that it can still hold on.
"The question of Donbas... I believe, is the question of this war," Zelenskiy told reporters on Sunday.
For Ukraine, hard security guarantees from its European allies and the U.S. are crucial to deterring Russia from invading again. Although he said the issue had been discussed, Zelenskiy did not detail if progress was made.
TEMPORARY HALT IN STRIKES
Though the front lines of the ground war remain largely static, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have intensified long-range air strikes in recent weeks.
Russia has pounded the Ukrainian capital day and night with missiles and drones for the past two weeks, including an attack on Friday on the headquarters of the SBU security service.
The Kremlin has said it would pause strikes on Kyiv until Monday, while Zelenskiy has said Ukraine would also halt strikes on Moscow.
There was no let-up in fighting along the 1,200-km (750-mile) front, however, and Russia bombarded other Ukrainian cities on Saturday.
Ukraine has inflicted damaging hits throughout the summer on Russian refineries, oil terminals and the warehouses of online retailer Wildberries, in an attempt to raise the cost to Moscow of continuing the war.
Ukraine said on Sunday it had struck the Ryazan oil refinery, around 480 km (300 miles) inside Russia, overnight, causing a fire.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Dan Peleschuk, Yuliia Dysa and Olena Harmashh; Editing by Joe Bavier, Sharon Singleton and Cynthia Osterman)
