Putin meets US envoys at Kremlin for renewed Ukraine peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday in a high-stakes diplomatic effort to revive stalled negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. The closed-door discussions lasted for more than three hours. Washington’s push to end the fighting had previously lost momentum as American attention remained concentrated for the past six months on the Iran war. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they also held talks with Putin at the Kremlin. The U.S. Envoys were met at the airport in Moscow by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting with the U.S. Delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.

At the start of the meeting in Moscow, Putin asked Kushner and Witkoff to pass on his warm wishes and gratitude to Trump, and described the situation in Ukraine as not simple. Russian forces launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Peskov also confirmed that Kushner and Witkoff would meet Putin during their visit, but said there was “no talk of new ideas” to end the conflict. Concurrently, Peskov announced that Putin had ordered a halt to strikes against Kyiv for three days beginning at midnight. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Moscow until Monday. He said he spoke on Saturday afternoon with the U.S. Delegation after their arrival in Moscow.

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The diplomatic engagements coincided with an intense escalation in aerial bombardments along the front line and across multiple regions. With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with relentless bombardments stretching into daylight hours, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems. On Friday, a Russian drone hit one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv — the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, which is one of the agencies involved in carrying out deep-strike operations inside Russia. The long-range strikes by Ukraine have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs, seeking to undermine the Kremlin's war effort and economy, as well as make ordinary citizens feel the consequences of the war.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv. Zelenskyy said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, and linked the attack to the planned U.S. Visit. Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine, he said.

The heavy aerial campaigns have severely impacted civilian infrastructure and local communities across multiple districts. Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. Hanzha described those killed as employees at the site.

"A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives."

Oleksandr Hanzha, local military administration head, via CNBC

A 62-year-old man was wounded, and several homes and an apartment building were damaged, in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said. In a statement on Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”

Additional casualties and severe structural damage were reported across other territories. A Russian drone also struck a house in Chuhuiv in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, killing at least three people, regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Two people were killed and another person was wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Bucha district of Ukraine’s Kyiv region on Saturday, local officials said. A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were wounded.

Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered, as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force. Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in statement that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Region / Location	Reported Incident Details	Casualties & Damage
Dnipropetrovsk Region	Strikes on an industrial facility and metallurgical plants	Five people killed, multiple wounded; residential and industrial damage
Nikopol District	Separate artillery and missile attacks	One 62-year-old man wounded, homes and apartment buildings damaged
Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Region	Drone strike on a residential house	At least three people killed
Bucha District, Kyiv Region	Overnight drone attack	Two people killed, one wounded; damage to 28 facilities including warehouses and railway tracks
Kyiv Region & Boryspil	Overnight drone strikes and airport bombardments	Two people wounded, residential buildings damaged
Mykolaiv Region	Repeated drone strikes on a shopping center	One 72-year-old man and one 17-year-old girl wounded, retail premises damaged
Belgorod Region	Cross-border Ukrainian attacks	Three people wounded, including a 14-year-old girl

The diplomatic mission is set to transition to the Ukrainian capital as the American delegation continues its itinerary.

What to Watch Next

• Both U.S. Envoys will also visit Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, for the first time as part of the peace process on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.
• The expiration of the seventy-two-hour Kyiv strike pause and the reciprocal Moscow strike halt expected on Monday.
• Potential adjustments to regional airspace operations following Ukrainian warnings regarding civilian and diplomatic transit routes.