US President Donald Trump says Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will carry a new American proposal aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war during planned meetings in Moscow and Kyiv this weekend.
“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. He offered no details of the proposal but said he had dispatched Witkoff and Kushner to determine whether an agreement could be reached. “We have an idea for peace,” he said separately.
The two envoys are expected to travel first to Moscow, where US officials told Axios they plan to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, before continuing to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday. The visit would be Witkoff and Kushner’s first to Kyiv during Trump’s current term, although both have previously held talks in Moscow.
Zelenskyy said Friday that Kyiv had received details of the itinerary from Trump’s team and was preparing for the visit. He also said Ukraine would refrain from air strikes for the period necessary to ensure the envoys could travel safely and called on Russia to observe a reciprocal pause.
The trip follows months of intermittent US attempts to restart negotiations. The last US-mediated talks involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives were held in February, while substantial differences remain over territory, security arrangements and the terms of any lasting settlement. Reuters reported that Moscow continues to seek additional Ukrainian territorial concessions, terms Kyiv has rejected as unacceptable.
Trump’s August 2025 summit with Putin in Alaska also ended without a ceasefire agreement. Following that meeting, Trump urged Ukraine to reach a settlement, while reports indicated that Putin had sought Ukrainian withdrawal from the remainder of the Donetsk region as part of a potential deal.
Putin has meanwhile spoken positively about the two American negotiators. Earlier this week, he described Witkoff and Kushner as people close to Trump whom Moscow regarded as sincere interlocutors, saying they were welcome in Russia. His comments came alongside continued sharp criticism of Kyiv, illustrating the gap that remains between the public positions of the two sides.
The diplomatic push is taking place while attacks continue on both sides. Russian strikes have hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in recent days, while Ukraine has continued long-range drone attacks against targets in Russia, including oil infrastructure. The fighting leaves the US envoys attempting to revive negotiations without any broader ceasefire currently in place.