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Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday for a three-hour meeting to rekindle stalled Ukraine peace talks that had been frozen for nearly eight months.
The rare meeting was the first direct high-level contact between the U.S. and Russia since talks broke down. Before the meeting, Putin had extended “best wishes and words of gratitude” to President Trump through the envoys. After it, Witkoff told the Russian leader that he and Kushner were “grateful” for the release of American businessman Bob Gillman as part of the diplomatic groundwork for the talks.
Both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to suspend strikes on each other’s capitals for the duration of the envoys’ trip. Putin gave the appropriate order as of midnight to stop the strikes: “A respective order has been given.” Zelenskyy’s government would go on to request a broader three-day ceasefire — one that went beyond what was mutually agreed. As part of the preparatory work with the Russians, Acting Treasury Department Sanctions Director Gene Lang met with Russian investment official Kirill Dmitriev — a detail signaling that sanctions relief may be part of what Washington has on the table.
Witkoff and Kushner are set to travel to Kyiv on Sunday to present Ukraine with the framework discussed in Moscow — marking the first-ever visit by the current envoy team to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to press operations in eastern Ukraine, using jet-propelled drones to force Ukrainian forces to constantly readjust. Even as Moscow and Kyiv engage in shuttle diplomacy, both sides remain locked in active conflict on the ground.
Trump reiterated that Putin will not attack a NATO country, pushing back against growing European alarm over the conflict’s trajectory. The administration’s urgency is also shaped by looming midterm elections and a declining public appetite for prolonged foreign entanglements. At the Treasury Department under Secretary Bessent, sanctions relief for Russia has been floated as a potential incentive for cooperation in any final settlement.
Whether this new round of diplomacy breaks the eight-month deadlock remains to be seen. As Trump works to broker a deal ahead of midterms, the pressure to deliver results is mounting on all sides of the negotiating table.
