President Vladimir Putin has ordered a three-day halt in Russian strikes on Kiev for a visit to the Ukrainian capital by US President Donald Trump's envoys.
"The Russian president and commander in chief has given the order not to strike Kiev for three days from midnight tonight," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted on Saturday as saying by state news agency TASS as US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff prepared to head from Moscow to Kiev.
According to the agency, a special jet carrying the two US envoys landed at Vnukovo Airport.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived at the airport to meet the American representatives, the agency reported.
Axios and Tass reported on Friday, citing sources, that Witkoff and Kushner would visit Moscow and Kiev over the weekend.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US envoys would visit Kiev on Sunday after their Moscow trip.
Proposal to end the war
Witkoff and Kushner have never visited Kiev, while both have made several trips to Moscow since US-mediated talks began. Their latest visit was on January 22, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
Trump said on Friday that Kushner and Witkoff would travel to Moscow not with new proposals, but with a proposal aimed at ending the war.
“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump said, referring to the two negotiators.
He attributed some of the difficulty in settling to the personal relationship between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“It’s a personality problem in Russia-Ukraine. You have President Zelenskyy and President Putin. They truly hate each other,” Trump said.
‘There may be a good chance'
Trump said he had sent Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow to determine whether progress could be made towards ending the conflict.
“They’re two great negotiators. They’ve done a great job,” Trump said, adding that “there may be a good chance” of reaching an agreement.
Moscow and Kiev last held US-mediated peace negotiations earlier this year, with three rounds of talks on January 23-24, February 4-5 and February 17-18.
The first two rounds were held in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.
The negotiations have since been paused, with Moscow and Kiev attributing the halt to Washington’s focus on Iran following the outbreak of war in late February.
