US envoys Kushner and Witkoff hold first Kyiv talks after Moscow meeting

US Envoys Kushner and Witkoff Hold First Kyiv Talks After Moscow Meeting

US peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday, marking their first official visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push to end the ongoing conflict with Russia. The trip follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, where the two sides discussed various issues, including the war in Ukraine.

According to reports, the meeting in Moscow lasted over three hours and was described as "highly useful" by Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. However, no major breakthroughs were announced, and the talks were not solely focused on the war in Ukraine. Economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America were also discussed in considerable detail, according to Ushakov.

In Kyiv, Kushner and Witkoff held "encouraging" talks with Zelenskiy and other top Ukrainian officials, with the goal of achieving a "just, fair peace" that would ensure there is "never an opportunity to resume aggression against Ukraine," as stated by Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian President expressed his gratitude to the American negotiators for visiting Kyiv and stated that the next round of talks would involve national security advisers from Britain, France, and Germany.

As stated by Witkoff, "We've had very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we're very encouraged." Kushner said that President Donald Trump sees it as important "not just to figure out how do we end the current war," but how to create the conditions for durable peace.

The visit by the US envoys comes as the conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate, with both sides trading fire and air-raid sirens becoming a daily occurrence in Kyiv. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and Ukrainian troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer front line.

Despite the challenges, Zelenskiy remains optimistic about the possibility of a peace deal, believing that Washington will be key to any agreement. He has stated that a window of opportunity exists to make peace before the US begins focusing on its next presidential election.

The US envoys' visit has been met with mixed reactions from Ukrainians, with some expressing hope that the talks will finally bring an end to the war, while others are skeptical about the prospects of a breakthrough. Nataliia Lipei, a 67-year-old woman who lost her son in the conflict, attended a nationwide moment of silence honoring Ukraine's fallen soldiers and expressed her hope that the talks will produce results. "I hope these steps and these meetings will definitely produce results, because there has been so much bloodshed and so many deaths here that we have to stop all of this," Lipei said.

In contrast, Oleksandr Pastukhov, a 27-year-old video editor, was more pessimistic, stating that he has seen similar delegations visit before and that he does not expect the envoys' visit to change anything. "We've already seen delegations like this come here before," he said. "We've seen this so-called ceasefire for three days, which ended after just a couple of hours, and now we're supposed to naively think that two people will come and change something."

Pope Leo XIV also weighed in on the situation, renewing his appeal for peace in Ukraine and expressing his hope that the negotiations will bring concrete results. "I hope that the efforts undertaken in recent days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and make way for diplomacy," he said.

As the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold, the international community remains watchful, with many calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The US envoys' visit is a notable development in the ongoing efforts to end the war, and it remains to be seen whether their talks will yield any tangible results.