Witkoff and Kushner discuss Ukraine plan with Putin, head to Kyiv

US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which they discussed substantial plans for further steps that will be announced in the coming weeks. The White House reported this to AFP — the first reaction from the American side to Saturday's talks.

According to AFP, the plane carrying Witkoff and Kushner departed Moscow for Poland and, according to FlightRadar24 data, landed at an airfield near Rzeszów. On Sunday, both envoys are due to hold talks in Kyiv.

"The envoys discussed substantial plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and look forward to an equally productive meeting in Ukraine tomorrow (Sunday)," the White House said in a statement issued overnight.

Trump talks up a peace plan

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington has a proposal to end the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. "We have an idea of how to achieve peace," said Trump, who has been trying to secure an end to the Russia-Ukraine war ever since returning to the White House in January of last year. Several rounds of talks since then have failed to produce results, and American diplomatic activity slowed this year amid the US and Israel's war with Iran. Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow.

Three hours in the Kremlin

According to Russia's TASS news agency, Saturday's talks in the Kremlin lasted three hours. On the Russian side, besides Putin, the talks involved presidential foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and special envoy for relations with the US Kirill Dmitriev. Ushakov later described the talks as constructive and extremely candid. According to him, the Russian president once again stressed the need to address the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, and it was agreed that Trump and Putin would remain in contact.

Russia has traditionally cited Kyiv's intention to join NATO and the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine's pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych as the main causes of the war — a move Moscow answered with the annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, who rose up against the new pro-Western government in Kyiv.

A lull over Kyiv and Moscow

According to Flightradar24, the Boeing carrying the American delegation left Moscow and landed in Rzeszów on Sunday at 1:30 a.m. Central European time. As AFP notes, senior officials visiting Ukraine since Russia's invasion began in February 2022 typically travel there by train from neighbouring countries.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president announced on Saturday that, in connection with the American delegation's arrival in Russia and subsequent trip to Ukraine, Moscow is suspending air strikes on Kyiv for three days. According to Zelensky, Ukraine, for its part, will refrain from strikes on Moscow until Monday.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz