Trump envoys arrive in Moscow with Ukraine peace proposal

September 5, 2026 adminsr

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Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday carrying what the US president has described as a peace proposal.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said the pair were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war” in Ukraine, but gave no details of the plan or any indication that Moscow was prepared to compromise.

The trip marks the pair’s third known visit to the Russian capital after the previous two produced no substantive progress. The most recent was in January.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Moscow remains committed to a peaceful resolution to the conflict, but has rejected proposals for a temporary ceasefire, arguing that it would not bring lasting peace and would give Ukraine time to re-arm.

Late last month Putin declined to meet John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, during an unannounced visit to Moscow, saying he preferred to communicate with people Trump appointed and trusted.

Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok this week, Putin said there were “chances” of a peaceful settlement of the conflict. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that “unfortunately, there are no concrete preconditions for this yet”.

After visiting Russia, Kushner and Witkoff plan to travel to Ukraine on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Friday on X. It would be their first known trip to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Expectations in Kyiv are extremely low. The Zelenskyy administration believes it is important for them to get a real sense of the impact of Russia’s war and is grateful for their visit, which would come after months of efforts to get them to visit the Ukrainian capital.

But senior officials do not expect any breakthroughs, as Russia shows no interest in ending its war and is instead expected to escalate its campaign in the coming months in a bid to pound Kyiv into submission.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv would unilaterally refrain from air strikes against Russian targets during the envoys’ visit. “There will be no air strikes from our side, and Russia must do the same,” he said. He added that he had spoken to the envoys, who “have already begun working with the Russian side today”.

Putin has ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days from midnight on Friday due to the preparations for the US delegation’s visit, Peskov told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov said on Saturday that Ukraine had also proposed a ceasefire on the front line, but had received no response from Moscow.

Earlier, senior Ukrainian officials told the FT that Kyiv had passed on Zelenskyy’s offer of a mutual comprehensive ceasefire for the duration of Witkoff’s and Kushner’s travels to Russia and Ukraine through its negotiating channels and separately through the Trump administration, but had received no response from the Kremlin and its negotiators.

The Ukrainian president accused Russian forces of bombing Kyiv’s two main airports overnight in order to scuttle plans for Kushner and Witkoff to land directly in the capital. It would have been the first time an official foreign delegation reached Kyiv by plane since the full-scale war began.

“We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

According to flight-tracking data from Flightradar, the plane carrying Witkoff and Kushner departed from Miami International Airport, made a stop in Helsinki and then continued towards Russia.

It landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport at about midday local time, where it was met by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, state news agencies reported. Around half an hour later, they shared videos of the US officials’ motorcade heading towards central Moscow, accompanied by security vehicles.

Earlier this week, Ukraine warned commercial airlines to stop using Russian airspace because of “increased military activity”. “We want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.

Putin described the move as “terrorist” but said Russia would continue to refrain from striking what he called Ukraine’s “decision-making centres” because Moscow would eventually need interlocutors for peace talks in Kyiv.

But on Friday, a Russian drone hit the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine, one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv housing one of the agencies involved in targeting sites deep inside Russia.

Moscow has not publicly commented on the strike.