Trump sends envoys Kushner and Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv with peace plan to end Russia-Ukraine war

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he has dispatched special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv on Friday, carrying a new American peace proposal aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The diplomatic initiative marks the first visit by the senior US negotiators to Kyiv since Trump resumed office in 2025.

What is the itinerary and scope of the US peace mission?

According to Axios, Witkoff and Kushner are scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, September 5, before traveling to Kyiv on Sunday, September 6, for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, President Trump described Witkoff and Kushner as "two great negotiators" and stated that they were carrying a concrete framework to broker a settlement. While declining to specify whether the plan requires territorial concessions, Trump argued that high casualty rates make an immediate resolution imperative, attributing the prolonged deadlock in part to intense personal animosity between the Russian and Ukrainian leadership.

How did Ukraine react to the diplomatic initiative amid rising battlefield escalation?

The diplomatic deployment comes immediately after a Russian drone strike struck the central headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv—marking the first direct hit on the intelligence agency's main facility since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the attack a "major escalation".

Despite the strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine would facilitate safe passage for the US delegation and proposed a temporary reciprocal ceasefire. "There will be no airstrikes from our side, and Russia must do the same," Zelensky stated in his evening address, calling on Moscow to halt aerial bombardments for the duration of the talks to ensure constructive discussions.

What precedes this renewed White House peace push?

The mission follows months of stalled negotiations while Washington focused heavily on the conflict with Iran in the Middle East. Prior to this weekend's diplomatic trip, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow in late August to press Russian officials on settlement terms and warn against any aggression targeting NATO members.

While the Kremlin declined to comment officially on the details of the upcoming meetings, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russia's core demands regarding territorial control in the Donbas and Ukrainian neutrality remain firm. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials emphasized that Kyiv's objective during Sunday's meetings is to identify viable mechanisms to end the war without compromising national sovereignty.