U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia and Ukraine this weekend, as efforts to bring an end to the war appear to be gaining momentum.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that he will meet with the envoys on Sunday, after they travel to Moscow on Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Witkoff and Kushner have been leading U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a peace agreement, but a significant gap still remains between the two warring sides.
“They are bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump told reporters when asked about the visits.
Earlier on Friday, Zelensky said that a Russian drone had struck the office of Oleksandr Poklad, head of Ukraine’s security service, in Kyiv. Poklad reportedly escaped unharmed.
In a social media post, Zelensky said he had instructed Poklad, who heads Ukraine’s SBU security service, to respond “appropriately” to the attack.
On Saturday, regional authorities said four people had been killed in a Russian attack on the city of Kamianske in southeastern Ukraine.
Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said that five other people were injured.
Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have visited Russia several times, but the reported talks would be their first visit to Ukraine.
Zelensky said he would guarantee the security of Russian airspace during the envoys’ visit and called on Russia to do the same for Ukraine.
Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported that Witkoff and Kushner “are expected to arrive in Moscow and then Kyiv… on September 5-6,” citing a source.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters: “I would not announce anything, but when these contacts take place, we will inform you.”
Meanwhile, Putin said on Thursday at an international economic forum that there was “a possibility” of reaching a peace agreement.
“First and foremost, Moscow and Kyiv must reach an agreement between themselves,” he said.
