Russian state news agency TASS reports that President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will visit Russia and Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday to push for an end to the war. The Kremlin declined to confirm the trip, and a source says Russia is resisting a stop in Kyiv.
Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are set to visit both Russia and Ukraine this weekend, according to TASS, though the Kremlin would not confirm the report. TASS did not name its source for the claim. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he would not make any announcements yet but would inform them when the contacts take place.
The pair last visited Moscow in January, when they held four hours of late-night talks with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have yet to visit Ukraine at all. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday that Trump's representatives were expected in both Moscow and Kyiv in the coming days.
Kyiv leg still in doubt
A source familiar with the matter said discussions on the Ukraine portion of the trip were still underway, with the teams discussing Sunday as a possible date. The source added that Russia does not want the envoys to visit Kyiv and is trying to get them to change the plan.
A vast gulf remains between Moscow and Kyiv on how to end the war, now four and a half years old and the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. Peskov said Putin's position, set out in a speech two years ago, remains unshakeable: that Ukraine should cede the entire territory of four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its plan to join NATO. Ukraine refuses to surrender land it has defended at heavy cost and rejects those terms as tantamount to surrender.
Putin sees a chance, but airspace warning complicates talks
Putin said Thursday there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war, but he added that Kyiv's warning to foreign airlines this week to avoid Russian airspace amounted to a threat that would make talks more difficult. The last U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in February, shortly before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.
Peskov said the possibility of eventually reaching a peace settlement could not be ruled out, but the necessary basis for it does not exist right now. The work and the contacts continue, he said.
Source: Investing.com
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