American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner presented Ukrainian officials with a fresh set of proposals on Sunday aimed at ending the war with Russia, which a senior Ukrainian presidential aide described as a more workable basis for negotiation than earlier efforts, even as President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned the conflict could drag into winter.
The aide told reporters the current round of engagement felt different from previous attempts, stressing that continued dialogue between the two sides was itself a meaningful development, regardless of whether it produced an immediate breakthrough. Neither Zelensky nor the American envoys pointed to any concrete resolution coming out of the talks, though both sides characterized the discussions in positive terms.
Sunday marked the first time Witkoff and Kushner had visited the Ukrainian capital, a city that has endured sustained Russian bombardment for more than four years. The two men arrived by rail — the only way in, since Ukrainian airspace has remained closed since Russia’s 2022 invasion — with Ukraine’s national rail operator marking their departure Monday morning with images of the pair beneath a station sign reading “Peace Express.”
Witkoff said the talks had been substantive and that both sides would ultimately need to make concessions to reach an agreement, adding that the U.S. delegation felt it now had the elements needed to get there. The Kyiv stop followed a three-hour meeting the envoys held with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow a day earlier, during which the Kremlin said the Americans had floated several possible paths toward a settlement without offering specifics. A White House official said further details of the plans discussed in Moscow would be announced in the coming weeks.
For his part, Zelensky said he hoped an agreement could still be reached with Washington’s help and reiterated that any resolution of territorial questions would ultimately require direct talks between himself and Putin. He said Ukraine also planned separate consultations with the United States, France and Germany. As a gesture tied to the American visit, Russia and Ukraine each agreed not to strike the other’s capital while the envoys were in the region — a narrow, temporary arrangement rather than any broader ceasefire.
