by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
KYIV, UKRAINE (Worthy News) – U.S. peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday as the Trump administration intensified efforts to restart negotiations aimed at ending the nearly five-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Kyiv talks came one day after Kushner and Witkoff held more than three hours of closed-door discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. While no breakthrough was announced, the U.S. envoys said they heard new proposals and expressed optimism that another round of U.S.-mediated negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine could soon be arranged.
Discussions with Zelenskyy reportedly included security guarantees, air-defense and energy assistance ahead of winter, economic arrangements, and plans for Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction and prosperity. Zelenskyy said Ukraine remains prepared for substantive negotiations and has signaled willingness to participate in trilateral discussions with Washington and Moscow.
However, major obstacles remain, particularly over territory in eastern Ukraine. Moscow continues to press claims involving the Donbas region, while Kyiv has resisted Russian demands that it relinquish additional territory it still controls. Despite the renewed diplomatic push, fighting and long-range drone and missile strikes have continued, underscoring how far negotiators remain from a comprehensive settlement.
The latest shuttle diplomacy nevertheless marks one of Washington’s most concentrated efforts in months to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table, with the Trump administration seeking to determine whether the battlefield stalemate can finally be transformed into a political settlement.
The Kyiv visit followed more than three hours of talks Saturday at the Kremlin between Kushner, Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington attempted to determine whether Moscow is prepared to move toward a negotiated settlement. Kremlin foreign-policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the discussions as substantive and candid, saying the American envoys presented several possible approaches for bringing the conflict toward an end.
Putin, however, gave no public indication that Russia was prepared to abandon its central demands. During the discussions, he emphasized Russia’s battlefield position and again raised what Moscow calls the “root causes” of the conflict—language the Kremlin has repeatedly used in connection with Ukraine’s relationship with NATO, security arrangements in Eastern Europe, and Russian territorial claims. No ceasefire or territorial agreement emerged from the meeting.
Putin nevertheless praised President Donald Trump for continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution despite what he described as the complexity of the conflict. Following the Kremlin talks, Moscow announced a temporary pause in strikes on Kyiv as the American delegation traveled to Ukraine, creating a narrow diplomatic window for the envoys to carry proposals and reactions directly between the two capitals.
The back-to-back meetings effectively placed Kushner and Witkoff in the role of shuttle diplomats—hearing Putin’s position in Moscow on Saturday before sitting across from Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday. Although neither visit produced an immediate breakthrough, U.S. officials emerged expressing hope that direct, U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine could soon resume after months of stalled diplomacy.
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