Putin meets Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow
Talks ran about three hours. The US envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday with Russia's assessment in hand.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday for talks on the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the conversation lasted a little over three hours. He called it substantive, constructive, and candid. Putin, he said, confirmed an intention to keep working with the Americans on political and diplomatic solutions.
Witkoff and Kushner promised to take Putin's assessments into their contacts in Kyiv the next day, Ushakov said. ABC News and RFE/RL reported the envoys left Moscow late Saturday and were heading to Ukraine on Sunday.
Before the visit, Ukraine said it would not target Moscow during the envoys' stay and asked Russia to reciprocate for Kyiv. Putin said he had ordered a halt to strikes on Kyiv from midnight on 5 September to protect the talks, according to the Kremlin transcript.
President Donald Trump had indicated the envoys were carrying a ceasefire proposal. It is unclear how far it differs from earlier offers. Putin has kept territorial demands that Kyiv rejects.
This is the first major Moscow-to-Kyiv shuttle by Trump's Ukraine team in some time. The war is in its fifth year. Diplomacy has stalled whenever territory stays non-negotiable.
A three-hour Kremlin session does not end a war. It does put Putin's framing in the hands of envoys who then sit with Zelenskyy. That is the design of a shuttle: carry each side's red lines to the other room.
India watches oil, shipping, and the language of ceasefire. Hormuz and crude have already been in this paper this week. A serious peace track would change prices. A failed one keeps the same pressure.
Sunday's Kyiv meetings are the immediate test. Watch whether either side announces a pause, a draft, or only process language. Ushakov said personal Trump-Putin contacts and the Witkoff-Kushner channel would continue.