US envoys Witkoff and Kushner set for talks in Kyiv after meeting with Putin in Moscow

President Vladimir Putin, right, greets U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, prior to talks at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. Mikhail Metzel/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/ AP hide caption

KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are set to arrive in Kyiv on Sunday in their first visit to the Ukrainian capital as part of a renewed push for peace in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The visit follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, in an attempt to revive peace talks during escalating aerial attacks by both sides.

Washington's push to end the fighting has lost momentum, with the United States focused for the past six months on the Iran war. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was in January when they also held talks with Putin at the Kremlin.

Saturday's meeting in Moscow lasted more than three hours behind closed doors and ended without announcements of any breakthroughs. Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described them afterward as constructive, frank, and useful but didn't discuss specific outcomes.

While Moscow offered its "comprehensive assessment" of the battlefield situation in Ukraine, Ushakov said, the talks were not purely focused on the war in Ukraine.

"Economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America were discussed in considerable detail," he said.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.