Donald Trump announced on Friday the dispatch of his two envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, to Moscow and then Kiev this weekend, carrying a proposal aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine. The move comes amid intensified Russian strikes, including a drone attack in the heart of Kiev on Friday.
From the Oval Office, Donald Trump confirmed on Friday the sending of his two envoys to Eastern Europe. “We sent them to see if we could move things forward, and there is a good chance we will succeed,” he told reporters. Without detailing the content of the proposal, he simply stated: “We have an idea for peace.”
According to the schedule reported by Axios, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before traveling to Kiev on Sunday for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. This will be the first time the two men visit the Ukrainian capital. They had already traveled to Moscow several times, most recently in January.
Trump did not specify whether his proposal involved territorial concessions by Ukraine, a hypothesis he had mentioned in the past. The American president also attributed the war to a “personality problem” between the two heads of state.
Zelensky responded to this initiative by proposing a unilateral ceasefire for the duration of the talks. “There will be no air strikes from our side, and Russia must, in return, guarantee a ceasefire for the entire duration necessary to conduct these talks,” he said on Friday evening. Moscow had not confirmed the visit nor responded to this offer at the time of writing.
The night from Friday to Saturday was nevertheless marked by a new Russian attack: the city of Kamianske, in central-eastern Ukraine, was struck, causing at least four deaths and five injuries according to regional authorities.
A few hours earlier, a Russian drone targeted the headquarters of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) in the historic center of Kiev. “The drone was directly targeting the office of the head of the security service,” Oleksandre Poklad specified, who indicated he had tasked him to “deliver an appropriate and tangible response.” Poklad was not in his office at the time of the strike. Fifteen people were injured, according to the capital’s military administration. AFP journalists observed smoke rising above downtown as emergency services intervened.
This visit by the American envoys is part of a series of diplomatic attempts initiated by Trump since his return to the White House in early 2025, none of which have resulted in concrete progress. The previous week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe also traveled to Moscow, where he met with Russian intelligence services according to the Kremlin. Trump described this trip as “semi-routine.”
On the front of aerial tensions, Kiev officially notified the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Wednesday that Russian airspace was now dangerous due to Ukrainian drones. Putin called this warning “terrorist.” On Friday, Moscow asked ICAO to “condemn” Kiev’s “illegal” statements.
