Russian media report Trump envoys arrive in Moscow ahead of Ukraine talks
Russian media reported that US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow, Russia — an aggressor state — for talks on accelerating efforts to end the war against Ukraine. This was reported by BBC News World.
Officially, neither Washington nor the Kremlin, an authority of the aggressor state, confirmed the arrival of the US representatives. At the same time, flight-tracking data showed that a US government aircraft landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport after flying from Helsinki. Earlier that day, the aircraft had arrived in Europe from the United States.
US proposal
On September 4, Trump told journalists that Witkoff and Kushner were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war.” According to Axios, the US envoys are to meet separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After talks in Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner plan to travel to Kyiv on September 6 for discussions with the Ukrainian side. This is set to be their first visit to Kyiv, although they have visited Moscow several times since Trump returned to office as president. Ukrainian delegations have taken part in talks in the United States over the past 18 months.
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Strikes on airports
Zelenskyy stated that on the night before the planned meeting with the US side, Russia carried out “demonstrative” strikes on airports in Kyiv and Boryspil. According to him, the attacks were a response to discussions and preparations for the possible use by the US side of an aircraft to arrive in Ukraine and land at one of these airports.
Ukraine’s airspace has been closed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy also said that he was ready to guarantee the safety of Russian airspace during the envoys’ visit and called on Russia to do the same for Ukraine. Separately, he reported that four people were killed and another five were injured as a result of an overnight Russian strike on a civilian building in the Dnipro region.
Previous attempts by the United States and its allies to reach a peace agreement have not produced a breakthrough. Among the key disagreements between the sides remain the issues of territories and security guarantees for Ukraine.
