Trump sends envoys to Moscow and Kyiv with new plan to 'end the war'
· France 24US President Donald Trump said Friday he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.
The move marks Washington's latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday.
US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, and then President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.
While the Kremlin declined to comment, a business jet believed to be carrying Witkoff and Kushner touched down in Moscow on Saturday, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing aviation sources.
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Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to gauge whether progress towards peace was possible.
Peace efforts have stalled due to Washington's war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of fighting.
'An idea for peace'
In late August, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow in part to press counterparts there to consider a settlement, Reuters and several other media outlets reported. US media also reported that Ratcliffe warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states.
Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.
"I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They've done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we'll do it," Trump said.
"They're bringing with them a proposal to end the war," he said.
The US president would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested, but added: "We have an idea for peace."
It will be the first time that Trump's businessman friend Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.
Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have travelled repeatedly to Moscow in previous attempts at diplomacy.
'No air strikes on our part'
The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks.
Just hours before Trump's announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.
The strike, which Zelensky said was aimed at the office of the agency's acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.
Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys' trip.
"There will be no air strikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire – without its own air strikes – for the duration needed to conduct these talks," he said in his evening address.
Russia did not immediately comment on the proposal.
Zelensky on Saturday accused Russia of hitting Ukraine's airports in Kyiv and the nearby town of Boryspil overnight ahead of Witkoff and Kushner's visit.
Ukraine's airspace has been closed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. But Zelensky said that officials discussed the possibility of the two peace negotiators using a plane for their expected visit to Kyiv on Sunday.
"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 and land at Kyiv Airport or Boryspil Airport," Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
"Russian-Iranian Shaheds (drones) in response to American diplomacy."
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Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.
Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be "completely unsafe" and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.
Putin said Zelensky's comments amounted to "state terrorism" and said that Moscow would head off any disruption to civil aviation.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)