Putin meets US envoys as Russia and Ukraine pause capital strikes

Vladimir Putin met Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin to revive stalled Ukraine peace talks. The meeting triggered a brief halt in strikes on Kyiv and Moscow even as the wider air war intensified.

In Short

• US envoys will travel to Kyiv after Kremlin talks resume diplomacy
• Washington's Ukraine peace push slowed as US focus shifted to Iran
• Russia ordered a three-day halt on strikes against Kyiv, Peskov said

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday for talks aimed at reviving stalled efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The visit came amid an escalation in aerial attacks by both sides, although Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the talks were under way.

The American envoys are also due to visit Kyiv on Sunday for the first time in the peace process, Ukrainian officials said. Washington’s push to end the war has lost momentum over the past six months as US attention was focused on the Iran war. Witkoff and Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, last visited Moscow in January, when they also held talks with Putin at the Kremlin.

At the start of the meeting, Putin asked Kushner and Witkoff to convey his warm wishes and gratitude to Trump, and described the situation in Ukraine as "not simple". Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Tass, "(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today." Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Moscow until Monday after speaking with the US delegation following its arrival in Moscow. "From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv," he said.

The envoys were received at the airport in Moscow by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev posted photographs of the meeting with the caption, "Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers."

With peace efforts at a standstill, Russia has stepped up attacks on Kyiv and other cities, with bombardments continuing into daylight hours as Ukraine faces shortages of air defence systems. On Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, in Kyiv. The agency is involved in deep-strike operations inside Russia. Ukraine’s long-range strikes have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs in an effort to weaken the Kremlin’s war effort and economy, and to make ordinary citizens feel the effects of the war.

The air war has intensified as fighting along the 1,250-kilometre front line has made little progress. Zelenskyy said on social media that Russia carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports and linked them to the planned US visit. "Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine," he said. He added, "We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side."

Russian attacks also killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, according to local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. He said those killed were 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." In a separate attack on the Nikopol district, a 62-year-old man was wounded and several homes and an apartment building were damaged, Hanzha said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck two metallurgical plants in the region, calling them "major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production."

In the Kyiv region, two more people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack, regional military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. In the Boryspil district, a fire caused by a strike partly destroyed a nine-storey residential building. Russian forces also repeatedly attacked a shopping centre in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and starting fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were wounded. Emergency crews had to repeatedly withdraw because of the threat of further strikes and returned when conditions allowed.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles from the Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, including Shahed-type aircraft, about half of them jet-powered, along with Geran and decoy drones. It said Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 128 drones. In Russia’s Belgorod border region, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, local officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight. The latest round of attacks came as Moscow hosted the US envoys and both sides briefly agreed to avoid strikes on Kyiv and Moscow during the talks.

With PTI Inputs

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