{"id":1186559,"date":"2026-09-04T19:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186559\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T19:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T19:21:17","slug":"us-envoys-headed-to-russia-and-ukraine-to-relaunch-mediation-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186559\/","title":{"rendered":"US envoys headed to Russia and Ukraine to relaunch mediation | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"

United States envoys are expected to arrive in Kyiv and Moscow over the weekend, in an apparent bid to revive negotiations aimed at ending Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday, Russia\u2019s state news agency TASS reported on Friday, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the two would make their first-ever visit to Ukraine on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> envoys were most recently in the Russian capital in January.<\/p>\n

However, Washington\u2019s mediation efforts have all but halted since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran in March.<\/p>\n

The talks come as both sides continue to exchange attacks, with Russia hitting the headquarters of Ukraine\u2019s SBU security services on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"PARIS,Witkoff and Kushner are due in Moscow this weekend before heading to Kyiv, according to reports [File: Getty]<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy expressed that Kyiv will not be launching strikes over the course of Witkoff and Kushner\u2019s visit to Russia, and called on Moscow to take mirror steps in this context when the envoys arrive in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is the most constructive, meaningful visit and negotiations with the American side. We need to look for real options to bring this war to an end. We\u2019ll see what proposals Steve and Jared have and what Moscow will say to them,\u201d Zelenskyy added in a video address on Friday.<\/p>\n

A day prior, Zelenskyy was enthusiastic in announcing the return of US-backed talks, despite Washington having previously been accused of adopting Russian narratives and demands for ending the war, primarily that Kyiv should hand over territory.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president said in a late-night address on Thursday that his country\u2019s negotiating team is in near-constant contact with the US side and preparing for talks.<\/p>\n

\u2018New dynamic\u2019<\/p>\n

TASS said Witkoff and Kushner \u2013 respectively, Trump\u2019s real estate partner and son-in-law \u2013 will first arrive in Moscow.<\/p>\n

Following their last visit to Moscow, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described talks as constructive, but said that \u201creaching a long-term settlement can\u2019t be expected without solving the territorial issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin had said recently that negotiations were \u201cfrozen\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, speaking at an economic forum in Russia\u2019s Far East on Thursday, he said that a number of countries, including the US and China, are ready to support a peace deal, and hinted at possible progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful to everyone attempting \u2060to contribute to a settlement,\u201d he said, according to the Reuters news agency. \u201cIs there a chance? In my view, yes, there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha earlier told reporters in Kyiv that he saw a \u201cnew dynamic\u201d \u2060coming in peace efforts, with more active political and diplomatic engagement.<\/p>\n

Strikes persist<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, in the eight months since Witkoff and Kushner were last in Moscow, Russia and Ukraine have ramped up air attacks<\/a> deep inside the other\u2019s territory and at sea, as well as the fighting along the front line in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said on Friday that a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine\u2019s SBU security services in central Kyiv.<\/p>\n

At least 12 people were injured in the strike, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, without giving details on whether the casualties were in the SBU building.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Sybiha condemned the attack, saying it was \u201ca major escalation that demands resolute responses\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, Sybiha said: \u201cMoscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace \u2013 laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said that while people weren\u2019t shocked the SBU building was hit, it has made them wonder what target might be next.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so much that people never expected the SBU to be hit, but it really raises the question of if Russia can hit this, what else can it hit?\u201d she said, adding that the question today on everyone\u2019s mind is \u201cabout just how much things will escalate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people here are wondering whether this attack, for example, could be aimed at possibly dissuading\u201d the US envoys\u2019 trips to Ukraine, said MacAlpine.<\/p>\n

Moscow\u2019s forces have relentlessly struck civilian areas over the four and a half years since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n

Kyiv mayor Klitschko said 12 people, seven of whom are medical personnel, were injured in a Russian drone attack on the capital\u2019s Shevchenkivskyi district on Friday.<\/p>\n

A \u201cmassive\u201d overnight Russian attack on the southern Odesa region also killed one person and injured at least five others, including a child, regional head Oleh Kiper said in a post on Telegram. The attacks damaged multiple residential buildings, including two multistorey blocks.<\/p>\n

Strikes in Dnipro in the east killed two police officers, officials said, while a drone attack in Kyiv injured three people after hitting a residential building.<\/p>\n

Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to concentrate strikes on Russia\u2019s energy infrastructure<\/a> and other economic targets, as it seeks to drain Moscow\u2019s funding for its war and encourage public anger over the conflict and its impact on the Russian population.<\/p>\n

A large-scale Ukrainian drone strike hit the Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the nearby district of Sirius, regional officials said, with fires reported at both locations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States envoys are expected to arrive in Kyiv and Moscow over the weekend, in an apparent bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1186560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7655],"tags":[299,12,332,7661,657,49,286],"class_list":["post-1186559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-russia","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117214400511943823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1186560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}