Kushner, Witkoff Meet Putin at Moscow Bearing New American Peace Proposal

Residents of Ukraine’s embattled capital can look for a brief respite from the daily onslaught of Russian missiles with Moscow’s promise of a three-day halt in attacks to facilitate the latest American peace mission.The halt reciprocates a similar pledge from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced ahead of Saturday’s visit to Moscow by American envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to present a new peace proposal. The two are due to make their first wartime visit to Kyiv on Sunday, hours after the airstrike halt takes effect.In Moscow, Messrs. Kushner and Witkoff met with President Vladimir Putin, who applauded President Trump’s efforts to end the war, according to a Moscow-dated report by Reuters.“Understanding that he is entering a difficult situation, he nevertheless does not stop his efforts to help bring about a settlement and to make his contribution to resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” Mr. Putin said.Mr. Trump remained vague about details in announcing the peace mission on Friday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that his team has “an idea for peace” and that he was sending his negotiators “to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.”However, an unnamed Russian source told Reuters that, despite Ukraine’s increasingly effective drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and other targets, Moscow is not ready to make any significant concessions.“There is no chance of reaching an agreement regarding the front line until Putin finishes securing the remaining part of the Donetsk region,” the source was quoted as saying, adding that Russian military commanders have told Mr. Putin that will happen by the end of the year.Battlefield observations by independent analysts suggest that is unlikely. A September 2 assessment by the Institute for the Study of War suggested that Moscow’s grinding offensive in Donetsk captured just 28.4 square miles of territory during August.“Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to exaggerate Russian forces’ battlefield performance to assert that Russian military victory in Ukraine is inevitable,” the Washington-based institute said. “These claims continue to be divorced from the battlefield reality on the ground, however.”Mr. Zelensky, for his part, has adopted a wait-and-see approach to the latest overture but welcomes the fact that Mr. Trump’s envoys will visit Kyiv for the first time after at least eight visits to Moscow by Mr. Witkoff and at least three by Mr. Kushner.“I have just spoken with the U.S. President’s envoys. They have already begun working with the Russian side today,” the Ukrainian president posted on X Saturday while reaffirming his willingness to halt all strikes on Moscow through Monday.Posting earlier, he wrote, “We need to look for real options for how to move this war toward an end. We will see what proposals Steve and Jared bring and what they are told in Moscow in response.”He also said that having the Americans come to Kyiv “would be fair, as they have been to Moscow multiple times, and it is important to send a signal to Ukrainian society.”Regardless of what emerges from the peace mission, the brief ceasefire will be welcomed in Kyiv, where residents have become increasingly vulnerable to stepped-up air attacks as the nation’s supply of American-made Patriot and other interceptors runs out.The resulting onslaught has severely disrupted daily life in the city and driven civilian deaths to their highest level in two years, with at least 37 persons killed and dozens injured in a single strike outside the capital on August 28.In one of the most dramatic attacks, a Russian drone achieved a direct strike Friday on the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU Security Service, injuring 12 persons, the service reported.Mr. Zelensky was quoted as saying he has instructed the SBU chief, Oleksandr Poklad, “to deliver an appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike, to the Russians once everything is ready. Our military will support this response.”This article has been updated to include details of Messrs. Kushner and Witkoff’s meeting with Mr. Putin.

Kushner, Witkoff Meet Putin at Moscow Bearing New American Peace Proposal

Kushner, Witkoff Meet Putin at Moscow Bearing New American Peace Proposal

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