United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have returned from a weekend-long trip to Moscow and Kyiv in a bid to find a permanent peace solution between the two warring states.
The pair met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, 5th September, before visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the following day.
Donald Trump Creative Commons Photograph
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the Mack Trucks facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
Despite prior optimism about a possible peace solution, it appears that no agreement has been reached, with Zelensky warning that the conflict could continue into its fifth full winter.
A Temporary Pause
Witkoff and Kushner’s visit marked the first in-person intervention in the conflict for over six months. A series of trilateral talks were held in the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland earlier this year, with no substantive progress made on bringing an end to the war. Since then, the U.S. has been largely occupied by the conflict in Iran, leaving Washington’s efforts focused elsewhere.
That changed at the end of August, when CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Russian counterparts in Moscow during a surprise visit from which few details were released by either Washington or the Kremlin.
The following week, President Zelensky confirmed a forthcoming visit by U.S. officials, later revealed to be Witkoff and Kushner.
Missiles and Drone Threaten Kyiv
Although fighting between the two nations continued across the weekend, both Putin and Zelensky agreed to pause attacks on each other’s capitals.
Russia had been persistently attacking Kyiv over the previous week, while Ukrainian drone assaults on Moscow have caused continual disruption in the Russian capital.
Moscow Meeting
On Saturday, the U.S. envoys met with President Putin. The White House said the meeting saw both sides discuss “substantive plans for next steps” towards ending the conflict, which would be announced in the “coming weeks.”
The talks, lasting well over three hours, were “highly useful” according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. Witkoff and Kushner “outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement,” Ushakov added without going into detail.
“The talks went beyond a mere exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis; economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail,” Ushakov said. “Overall, one can say that the negotiations were timely and highly useful to both sides.”
Putin, meanwhile, reportedly told the U.S. envoys that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield, and praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his efforts to end the war.
A Trip to Kyiv
On Sunday, Witkoff and Kushner took a train from Poland into Kyiv to meet with Zelensky.
The Ukrainian President said the talks were “very substantial,” with discussions covering security and economic guarantees for Ukraine along with an additional supply of air defenses and a winter support package. However, despite a “positive assessment” of the discussions, Zelensky said it looked likely that the conflict would continue into the forthcoming winter.
“We very much hope that we will be able to reach agreements with our American partners, and we are counting on the support of our European partners – if the war continues in winter, and this is how it appears at the moment – but even so, the teams today have a positive assessment of our future prospects,” Zelensky said following the meeting.
Compromise Needed on All Sides
Efforts to find a permanent peace solution have proven difficult given the polarized perspectives between Moscow and Kyiv. President Putin has long been adamant that Ukraine relinquish control over the Donbas – an area of Eastern Ukraine which encompasses the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine still holds territory in both oblasts, and Zelensky has been reluctant to withdraw from a region where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian troops have lost their lives while defending.
Security guarantees and Ukraine’s status as a neutral country are among the other issues dividing the two warring nations.
Following the meeting in Kyiv, Witkoff reiterated that both Russia and Ukraine would need to make “some compromises and narrow the issues between them” to end the conflict. “It is very difficult, but we are committed, we care, and we hope all of that leads to a successful peaceful diplomatic resolution,” he added.
Zelensky once again called for a meeting with his Russian counterpart, noting that territorial disputes can only be resolved “at the level of leaders.”
The Ukrainian President is expected to meet Witkoff and Kushner for further talks later in the week.
About the Author: Shay Bottomley
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist. He has written for the Western Standard, Business Insider, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo.
