Putin Holds Three-Hour Kremlin Talks With Trump Envoys as Limited Kyiv Ceasefire Begins
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin in Moscow for more than three hours before heading to Kyiv, as Russia starts a three‑day halt to strikes on Kyiv city but keeps up attacks elsewhere and insists it has not agreed to any longer ceasefire.
A three-day halt to Russian strikes on Kyiv city has begun just as U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv, testing whether this informal channel can move the war in Ukraine toward any form of settlement.
Russian media and officials said President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin. The meeting began at around 7:55 p.m. Moscow time, with the U.S. negotiators’ motorcade leaving after 11 p.m. The Kremlin later described the talks as substantive, extremely candid and conducted in an atmosphere of trust. Russian sovereign wealth chief Kirill Dmitriev, involved in Russia–U.S. negotiations, called the visit an important peacemaking trip and referred to the two Americans as peacemakers.
According to Russian readouts, Putin used the meeting to set out his assessments of the battlefield and possible paths toward a settlement. The Kremlin said Witkoff and Kushner promised to use the assessments expressed by Putin in their contacts in Kyiv, where they are expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky. The American side also conveyed Donald Trump’s best wishes to Putin. Putin stressed that Russia had not agreed with Ukraine to any ceasefire lasting more than three days and publicly promised to ensure the safety of the U.S. representatives during their visit.
On the ground, Russia has announced a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv, and reporting says the pause has now begun. But it applies only to Kyiv city, not to the wider Kyiv region. Commentators have warned that Russia may still attack Kyiv Oblast, even if parts of the metropolitan area inside the oblast are considered less likely targets; any strikes, they suggested, would probably hit neighboring towns or cities. Missile alerts tracked two S8000 Banderol cruise missiles flying west from Sribne in Chernihiv Oblast toward Kyiv Oblast, and another two flying southwest past Pryluky, also in Chernihiv Oblast.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, fighting and strikes have continued despite the diplomatic activity in Moscow. Russia struck residential areas in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv region while the Kremlin talks were under way. In Chuhuiv in Kharkiv region, a Russian drone hit a private house, killing three people—an 11‑year‑old boy, a 19‑year‑old woman and a 45‑year‑old man—and injuring a 40‑year‑old woman, according to local reporting.
The Kremlin has been quick to promote its version of the talks, including Putin’s insistence that any ceasefire is tightly limited in time and geography. For the U.S. envoys, the pause over Kyiv simplifies security arrangements for their travel, but it also underscores that Russia is using calibrated restraint around the capital while keeping military pressure on other regions.
Signals that will define what this diplomatic push achieves include how Zelensky’s office characterizes the Kyiv meetings, whether Kyiv acknowledges or rejects specific ideas passed on from Putin, and whether Russia extends or broadens the current three-day halt beyond Kyiv city or instead resumes strikes as soon as the window closes.
Sources
- OSINT