US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia and Ukraine this weekend as part of efforts to negotiate an end to the ongoing conflict between the two nations. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will meet the envoys on Sunday after their visit to Moscow on Saturday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump stated that the envoys are bringing a proposal to end the war. Earlier on Friday, Zelensky reported that a Russian drone had struck the office of Ukraine's security chief, Oleksandr Poklad, in Kyiv, although Poklad was unharmed. Zelensky instructed Poklad, who leads the SBU security service, to respond appropriately to the attack.
On Saturday, regional authorities reported that four individuals were killed in a Russian strike on the southeastern city of Kamianske, with five others wounded, according to Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.
Witkoff and Kushner have previously visited Russia multiple times, but this will mark their first trip to Ukraine. Zelensky assured that he would guarantee the safety of Russian airspace during the envoys' visit and requested that Russia reciprocate for Ukraine.
Russia's state news agency Tass indicated that Witkoff and Kushner are expected to arrive in Moscow and then Kyiv on September 5-6, citing an unnamed source. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that he would not announce anything further but would provide information when the contacts occur.
Putin mentioned at an international economic forum that there are chances for a peace deal, emphasizing that an agreement must be reached between Moscow and Kyiv. However, he did not indicate any willingness to concede on his demands, which include territorial concessions from Ukraine. Kyiv and its European allies have consistently rejected these terms, viewing them as capitulation. Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently occupies approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory.