US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visit Moscow to revive peace talks

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner touched down at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on September 5, carrying what President Trump described as a “proposal to end the war.” Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev greeted the pair on the tarmac, setting the stage for what could be the most consequential diplomatic push since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

The visit marks a restart of peace negotiations that had effectively stalled for months. And in a move that suggests at least some goodwill from the Kremlin, Russia announced a 72-hour halt to airstrikes on Kyiv starting at midnight on September 5, a direct response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for a temporary ceasefire during the talks.

The diplomatic playbook

The envoys’ itinerary is unusually ambitious. After meetings in Moscow that may include a sit-down with President Vladimir Putin, Witkoff and Kushner are scheduled to fly to Kyiv on September 6. That leg of the trip carries its own symbolic weight: it would be their first visit to Ukraine’s capital.

Trump telegraphed the mission a day before departure, announcing on September 4 that his envoys would carry a formal peace proposal. The plan under discussion is reportedly a revised version of earlier US frameworks, now incorporating input from European allies and Ukrainian officials.

The core disputes haven’t budged much. Territory, security guarantees, and NATO-related concerns continue to sit at the center of the negotiating table. The Kremlin has been consistent in signaling that Putin’s previously stated demands remain unchanged.

Why talks stalled in the first place

This isn’t the Trump administration’s first attempt at brokering a deal between Moscow and Kyiv. Earlier rounds of discussions took place in Miami in late 2025 and in Moscow in January 2026. Both fizzled out without producing meaningful progress.

The January Moscow visit, in particular, appeared to lose momentum as US attention pivoted toward the conflict with Iran. That shift in focus effectively put the Ukraine portfolio on the back burner for months, leaving European allies to carry much of the diplomatic load in the interim.

The war is now well into its fifth year. What began as a conflict many Western analysts expected to resolve within months has become a grinding, protracted struggle with enormous human and economic costs on both sides.

Kushner’s inclusion in the delegation is itself a signal worth reading. Trump’s son-in-law played a prominent role in Middle East diplomacy during the first Trump administration, most notably in brokering the Abraham Accords. His presence alongside Witkoff, the designated special envoy, suggests the White House is treating this round of talks as a top-tier priority rather than a routine diplomatic check-in.

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