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Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff touched down in Kyiv on September 6, making their first visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The trip came just one day after the pair spent over three hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a sequence of shuttle diplomacy that signals Washington’s most aggressive push yet to broker some kind of resolution to a conflict now grinding through its fifth year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly welcomed the envoys and said he was ready for constructive dialogue. He also stressed what Ukraine has demanded from day one: meaningful security guarantees and a peace deal that doesn’t simply reward territorial conquest.
A diplomatic sprint, not a marathon
The Kyiv visit wasn’t a solo American affair. National security advisers from the UK, France, and Germany were present or expected in the capital for related discussions, lending the talks a multilateral dimension that previous rounds of US-led diplomacy have sometimes lacked.
Perhaps the most tangible sign that both Moscow and Kyiv are treating these talks seriously: a temporary pause in aerial strikes was observed between the two capitals during the diplomatic visits.
Kushner and Witkoff have made multiple prior trips to Russia, with their last visit occurring in January 2026. But the decision to finally cross into Ukrainian territory represents a notable shift.
Why previous efforts stalled
This is far from the first attempt to negotiate an end to the war. Earlier US-mediated talks produced limited results, with the two sides unable to bridge fundamental disagreements over land control and security arrangements. At one point, negotiations operated from a 20-point framework, but that plan was progressively narrowed as each side dug into positions the other found unacceptable.
The core disputes haven’t magically resolved themselves. Russia continues to occupy significant portions of Ukrainian territory, and any peace deal will have to address whether those areas are acknowledged as Russian-held, returned to Ukraine, or subjected to some kind of interim arrangement. Zelenskyy has consistently maintained that surrendering sovereign territory is a non-starter.
Then there’s the security guarantee question. Ukraine wants ironclad commitments that it won’t face another invasion in five or ten years. NATO membership would be the gold standard, but that remains politically fraught for alliance members who worry about direct confrontation with Russia.
What comes next
The envoys are expected to outline fresh proposals in the coming weeks, though the substance of those proposals hasn’t been disclosed. The involvement of European national security advisers suggests that whatever framework emerges will need to satisfy not just Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv, but also London, Paris, and Berlin.
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