Kyiv hosted its first visit by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Saturday, one day after the pair met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as part of a renewed push to end the war.
Witkoff described the discussions as “very meaningful,” telling reporters the peace effort had advanced during the visit. Ukrainian officials characterised the meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “substantive,” a term signalling detailed exchanges without confirming any agreement.
The back-to-back meetings in Moscow and Kyiv form the core of a fresh diplomatic sequence driven by US President Donald Trump. Witkoff and Kushner have positioned themselves as intermediaries, carrying messages between the two capitals rather than presenting a finished settlement to either side.
Despite the momentum, fundamental differences between Russia and Ukraine remain unresolved. The two governments continue to hold incompatible positions on territory, security guarantees and the terms of any ceasefire. No public breakthrough emerged from either the meeting in Moscow or the Kyiv session.
Analysts and officials in the Ukrainian capital expect the fighting to continue in the near term. The symbolism of envoys shuttling between the warring sides has outpaced concrete movement toward a deal, with the gap between the parties’ core demands still wide.
The visits build on months of intermittent contacts. Earlier rounds of US-brokered diplomacy included talks hosted in Abu Dhabi and a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy at Davos, none of which produced a durable pause in hostilities.
Kushner’s involvement extends a pattern of high-profile shuttle diplomacy for the Trump administration. The envoys travelled directly from Moscow to Kyiv, seeking to keep both governments engaged in a single negotiating track.
For now, the process remains at the stage of relaying positions. Neither side has publicly committed to concessions on the issues that have defined the conflict since its start.
The latest confirmed development is the completion of the Kyiv talks, with the US envoys signalling their intent to continue mediating between Moscow and Kyiv.