US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are traveling to Russia and Ukraine to help restart peace negotiations, according to Al Jazeera. United States President Donald Trump announced from the White House that Witkoff and his son-in-law Kushner are preparing to travel to Kyiv and Moscow with a proposal to end the war, as reported by Al Jazeera. Trump stated that he sent the envoys to see if an agreement can be reached, noting that there may be a good chance that we’ll do it
and that the administration has an idea for peace.
US Envoys Witkoff and Kushner Travel to Russia and Ukraine for Peace Negotiations
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Witkoff and Kushner will be in Moscow over the weekend, marking their first visit since January, when they held late-night discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, as noted by Firstpost. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the duo would also visit Ukraine, which will be their first trip to the country since Trump returned to power, according to Al Jazeera. However, a source familiar with the arrangements told Reuters that discussions regarding the Ukraine leg were still under way, with Sunday under consideration as a date, and that Russia was initially opposed to a visit to Kyiv and sought to persuade Washington to alter the plan, as detailed by Firstpost. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the reported itinerary to reporters, stating that authorities would inform the public when contacts take place.
Escalating Military Attacks and Regional Strikes
The diplomatic push comes as air attacks continue to ramp up across the region. Russian forces launched a drone strike that hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security services in central Kyiv, injuring at least 12 people according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, with President Zelenskyy stating that the drone was deliberately targeted at the head of the SBU’s office in that building, as reported by The Boston Globe. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the drone strike a major escalation, writing on X that Moscow launched the attack during a renewed push for peace to lay bare its true rejection of diplomacy, as noted by The Boston Globe.
Additional overnight and daytime strikes across Ukraine damaged multiple residential buildings, killed two police officers in Dnipro, and wounded three people in Kyiv, while a massive attack on the Odesa region killed one person and injured at least five others, according to Military.com. Meanwhile, regional officials reported that a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike hit the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the nearby district of Sirius, sparking a blaze at an oil depot, as detailed by The Boston Globe.
Deep Divisions and Obstacles to a Peace Settlement
Any fresh diplomatic effort faces substantial obstacles as Moscow and Kyiv remain sharply divided over the conditions for ending the conflict, which is in its fourth-and-a-half year, according to Firstpost. President Trump told reporters that a peace deal has remained elusive due to a personality problem between both sides, stating that President Zelenskyy and President Putin truly hate each other
and that they have serious hate, and it’s getting in the way,
as reported by Al Jazeera.
Kremlin spokesperson Peskov reiterated that Putin’s demands remain unchanged and non-negotiable, requiring Ukraine to surrender the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia and to abandon its ambition to join NATO, as reported by Firstpost. Conversely, Kyiv has rejected giving up territory, viewing Moscow’s demands as equivalent to surrender. Putin described current negotiations as frozen, though he stated that an agreement to end the war remains possible even while criticizing Kyiv’s warnings to foreign airlines regarding Russian airspace as a threat that could complicate diplomatic efforts, according to Firstpost.