Witkoff, Kushner push Ukraine peace in Kyiv after Moscow talks — SkimNews
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- Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow on Saturday for more than three hours with no major developments announced, then held three rounds of talks in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine.
- Zelensky's final Sunday round brought in national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany, with discussions covering Patriot air defense needs and a "winter package" of support for air defense and energy infrastructure before colder months.
- Zelensky said the U.S. plans to increase Patriot interceptor missile production next year, with Germany also expanding production under existing licensing agreements, while Ukraine works with 67 domestic companies developing systems to counter Russia's jet-powered drones.
- Putin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Saturday's Moscow talks went beyond the war, covering "economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America" in considerable detail.
- Putin and Zelensky agreed to pause strikes on each other's capitals during the talks, but still traded fire overnight; Ukraine intercepted 82 of 108 Russian drones while Russia shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions plus Crimea.
- Kushner said the envoys hope to revive trilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine directly — a format last used roughly six months ago — and both sides agreed to a follow-up meeting involving Ukraine, the U.S. and Europe, location not yet set.
- Core demands of Moscow and Kyiv remain mutually exclusive on territorial concessions, underscoring why Kushner called it "a very, very hard problem" despite what Witkoff called "new ideas" emerging from Moscow.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's renewed Ukraine push, stalled for six months by focus on the Iran war, hit the same wall that blocked it before: irreconcilable demands on territory. With winter approaching, Zelensky is pressing for a concrete "winter package" of air defense and energy support, and the envoys are pitching economic joint projects with Russia as a sweetener — a detail that could reshape the political calculus in Moscow ahead of Russia's State Duma election later this month.
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