LONDON — President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff hailed what he described as “very meaningful discussions” regarding the Ukraine-Russia war, saying the talks in Kyiv Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were “substantive [and] important.”
Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday in a renewed White House push for progress on ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.
“President Trump asked us to convey his personal regards to you and to the people of Ukraine,” Kushner told Zelenskyy in comments before reporters, adding that Trump “wanted us to convey that he sees this as a very, very hard and complex problem, but it’s a very worthy problem worth solving.”
He added that Trump was committed not only to ending the conflict, but also to securing a lasting peace that would enable Ukraine “to build itself into the great nation that they [Ukraine] have the fullest potential to achieve.”
Zelenskyy thanked the United States for its continued support and expressed gratitude to Trump for “allowing the American group to be here in Ukraine today.”
“After the meetings in the Russian Federation, it was very important for us to have President Trump’s chief negotiators in Ukraine today,” Zelenskyy said.
The U.S. delegation traveled to Ukraine following talks in Moscow on Saturday, during which Witkoff and Kushner sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss what a White House official told ABC News were “substantive plans for next steps” on the path toward a peace deal, despite few signs peace is any closer.
The visit to Kyiv by Witkoff and Kushner is their first during the full-scale invasion. The pair have visited Russia several times during the conflict.
They arrived from Poland by train before being welcomed by President Zelenskyy outside the historic Saint Sophia Cathedral in the center of the capital. Zelenskyy embraced the two the men before leading them inside the cathedral.
Prior to their arrival, Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X that he had met with Ukraine’s negotiating team and was expecting a “substantive conversation” with the U.S. envoys.
“Ukraine has always been and will remain constructive. We are interested in bringing the end of the war closer. Peace is needed. Security guarantees are needed. A dignified character of the postwar peace is needed. Our proposals are ready,” he wrote in a post to X.
The national security advisers of France, Germany and the U.K. were among senior European officials who also traveled to Kyiv to take part in Sunday’s talks.
A source told ABC News the American delegation was serious about the meetings in Moscow and Kyiv, adding that the visits are “not just for show.”
According to the source, the American side wants to end the war before winter, while Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, believes this will not be possible and that Russia will only be genuinely ready for negotiations in the spring or summer 2027.
The American negotiating pair spent more than three hours with Putin in the Kremlin on Saturday, with U.S. and Russian officials both praising the discussions.
But Putin afterward gave no sign of compromise. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told the state-run Tass news agency that Putin told Witkoff and Kushner that it was necessary to eliminate “all root causes of the Ukrainian conflict,” a phrase routinely used by officials in Moscow hinting at maximalist Russian demands that Ukraine be forced to accept neutrality, cut down its military and abandon any NATO aspirations.
Putin also “noted the successes of Russian forces” in the ongoing war effort “and expressed confidence in achieving its goals,” Ushakov said.
Most experts believe Putin’s position in recent weeks has only hardened, with signs he believes Russia is winning the war and is more determined to use military force to try to force concessions from Kyiv, including by targeting its energy system this winter.
In the last two weeks, Russia has significantly intensified its air attacks on Kyiv, using jet-powered drones to relentlessly terrorize the capital.
At the start of Saturday’s meeting, Witkoff thanked Putin for hosting the American delegation and noted the “incredible” stories and memories that he, Kushner, Ushakov and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev will have when they retire. “Yours will be right at the top of it all,” Witkoff said.
Witkoff also conveyed Trump’s best wishes and thanked Putin on behalf of the Gilman family for helping secure the return of Rob Gilman. Putin said that the credit belonged to Trump.
A White House official told ABC News that Kushner and Witkoff were joined by officials from the National Security Council, State Department and Treasury Department during the discussions on “proposals to bring peace to this conflict.”
Witkoff further thanked Putin for supporting what he described as a temporary “no-shoot” arrangement around Kyiv and Moscow, which allowed the American delegation to travel safely to and from Russia.
Putin and Zelenskyy have both publicly said they will not strike each other’s capitals during the American delegations visits. While no Russian strikes struck Kyiv overnight Saturday, drones were reported to have targeted the nearby city of Boryspil. Russian strikes continued in the rest of Ukraine.
The Kremlin meeting did little to encourage Ukrainians, Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — told ABC News on Sunday.
“We are expecting Trump’s envoy but I don’t have any hopes at all,” he said from Kyiv. This is something that Trump doesn’t understand — Putin believes that there is no way back for him. He has committed so many crimes that, as he believes, he can save his skin only if Ukraine capitulates.”
Merezhko said he was among those skeptical of Witkof and Kushner’s ability to chart a path to a settlement, describing the pair as “amateurs without necessary knowledge and experience.”
Both Russia and Ukraine continued long-range overnight strikes. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 108 drones and an unspecified number of cruise missiles into the country overnight into Sunday morning. Air defenses downed 82 drones and six cruise missiles, the air force said, with impacts reported across 11 locations.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported at least one attack in the Kyiv region, where a Russian strike caused a “large-scale fire” at an infrastructure facility.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight, with craft reported shot down over 14 Russian regions, occupied Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
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