WASHINGTON (TNND) — U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Kyiv on Sunday for their first official visit to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Washington pushes for renewed negotiations to end the war.
The visit came a day after the U.S. team spent more than three hours in Moscow in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. No major breakthrough was announced from either meeting, but Witkoff said the U.S. delegation heard unspecified “new ideas” in Moscow and hopes to announce another round of U.S.-mediated Ukraine-Russia talks soon.
President Vladimir Putin, right, greets U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, center, prior to talks at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready for renewed trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia. A follow-up meeting involving Ukraine, the U.S. and European partners is also expected, though no location has been set.
Ukraine, the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany participated in the final round of Sunday’s Kyiv talks, according to the notes. Zelenskyy said the discussions covered Patriot air-defense systems, energy support ahead of winter, long-term security guarantees and economic support for Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction.
He said Ukraine expects the war to continue into winter and will need significant air-defense and energy assistance if that happens.
Territorial concessions remain a central obstacle. Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from towns it still controls in the Donbas, while Kyiv has refused. Zelenskyy said the issue can only be resolved by leaders.
Even as diplomacy continued, the war did not pause. Putin and Zelenskyy agreed to temporarily pause strikes on each other’s capitals during the envoys’ trip, but fighting continued elsewhere.
Ukraine said Russia launched 108 drones and missiles overnight, with Ukrainian officials reporting one person killed and at least 10 wounded in attacks across several regions. Ukraine also said it struck Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery, about 300 miles inside Russia, causing a fire. Russia said its air defenses downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, and the war has lasted more than four and a half years.