U.S. special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the latest attempt to breathe new life into diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev greeted Witkoff and Kushner at the Vnukovo Airport in Moscow upon their arrival.
Dmitriev, who graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School, was hand-picked by Putin to lead negotiations with the Trump administration about the war in Ukraine. He also played a role in negotiating U.S. sanction waivers for Russian oil this year.
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Sept. 4 the U.S. had a fresh concrete proposal aimed at ending the war, which is now in its fifth year.
He did not, however, elaborate on what that proposal would be.
Witkoff and Kushner will travel to Kyiv on Sept. 6 to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Though the U.S. envoys have both previously traveled to Russia for talks with Putin, this will mark their first visit to Kyiv.
The visit comes shortly after CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a brief, unannounced visit to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterparts.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin has ordered a three-day pause to strikes on Kyiv starting on Sept. 5, according to Russian news agencies.
While the American representatives were traveling to Moscow, Zelenskyy said in a post on X that Russia hit two Ukrainian airports.
Despite the latest round of talks, Russia and Ukraine remain deeply divided over how to end a war that has lasted more than four years and become the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
The Kremlin said on Sept. 4 the demands that Putin previously outlined - that Ukraine must cede the entire territory of four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its plan to join NATO - were “unshakeable.”
Since the last peace talks in February, each side has intensified long-range air attacks deep inside the other's territory, while the war at sea has also escalated.
On the ground, the front lines have remained largely static, with Russia making only gradual gains in its attempt to take the whole of Ukraine's Donbas region.
Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian oil refineries have led to a summer of fuel shortages and rising prices for Russian motorists, while some 30 attacks on giant warehouses belonging mostly to Wildberries, the country's biggest online retailer, have affected the consumer economy.
A Russian drone attack hit the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in Kyiv on Friday — the 10th consecutive day of heavy attacks on the capital — and Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s envoys land in Moscow for Ukraine war talks with Putin
