The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on the Ukrainian capital on Kiev, coinciding with the expected visit of US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the Ukrainian capital.
Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: “The president of Russia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin, ordered that Kiev not be bombed for three days, starting at midnight tonight.” He added that the decision was linked to “conducting contacts” with the US delegation expected to arrive in Kiev.
The two US envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport carrying, according to the US president, a proposal to end the war in Ukraine, Russian media reported on Saturday.
Their plane landed at 12:52 p.m. (9:52 a.m. GMT), according to the RIA Novosti news agency. They are expected to travel to Kiev following talks in Moscow, in what is considered the first move of its kind since the mediation efforts they have been conducting in the conflict began.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would send envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv with a proposal to end the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for four years.
The move represents Washington’s latest effort to break the diplomatic deadlock and end the Russian-Ukrainian war, the most intense conflict in Europe since World War II, which began with Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022.
