US envoys Witkoff and Kushner hold talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv — DW
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after meeting Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow. As Deutsche Welle reports, this was their first official visit to Ukraine, but diplomatic contacts did not bring a breakthrough on ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv by train from Poland, as Ukraine's airspace remains closed because of the war. The day before, they held talks in Moscow with Putin, the president of the Russian Federation — an aggressor state. According to the publication, Putin announced a three-day ceasefire to ensure the safety of the US envoys.
Assistance and air defense
Zelenskyy held three rounds of talks with the US representatives. National security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany also joined the final meeting.
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The president of Ukraine said that the sides discussed military assistance, including Patriot air defense systems and other weapons Ukraine needs in the coming months. Kyiv is counting on substantial US support with the participation of European partners. Zelenskyy noted that if the war continues until winter, Ukraine will need a separate package for that period.
Differences over peace terms
Moscow and Kyiv continue to have significant differences over key issues, primarily territorial concessions. Kushner acknowledged the difficulty of reaching an agreement and said that the United States is working privately to create conditions for a possible deal.
Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks in Moscow constructive, frank and useful, without reporting specific results. According to him, the sides also raised economic issues and possible large-scale Russian-US projects. Previous contacts did not make it possible to reconcile positions, including on the future of the industrial Donbas region.
