Trump envoys visit Moscow, Kyiv in bid to revive peace efforts — SkimNews
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- Witkoff and Kushner held "encouraging" talks in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine, but made no breakthrough toward ending Russia's full-scale invasion; Zelensky held three rounds of talks, the last joined by national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany.
- The trip followed a Saturday meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow lasting more than three hours, after which Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said "economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America" were discussed "in considerable detail."
- Zelensky said discussions covered air defense needs including Patriot systems and a "winter package" of support for air defense and energy infrastructure; he added that the US plans to increase Patriot interceptor missile production next year, with Germany expanding its own under existing licensing agreements.
- The core demands of Moscow and Kyiv remain mutually exclusive, especially over territorial concessions, with Kushner acknowledging it as "a very, very hard problem" and Zelensky saying such issues "can only be resolved at the level of leaders."
- Putin and Zelensky agreed to pause strikes on each other's capitals during the talks, yet still traded fire overnight into Sunday; Ukraine's air force intercepted 82 of 108 Russian drones plus 6 missiles, while Russia's Defense Ministry said it shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions overnight.
- The sides agreed to a follow-up meeting involving Ukraine, the US and Europe, though a location has not been set, and Kushner said the envoys hoped to revive direct trilateral talks with Russia and Ukraine, a format last used roughly six months earlier.
- Russia has intensified strikes on Ukrainian cities ahead of Russia's State Duma election later this month, Zelensky said, calling the attacks deliberate "terror" against civilians; Zelensky noted Ukraine was working with 67 domestic companies developing systems to shoot down Russia's jet-powered drones at scale.
Why it matters: The territorial question is the hard wall the US keeps walking into: Kushner called it "a very, very hard problem" while territorial concessions remain a non-starter for Kyiv. The shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv revived a format not used in six months, but without movement on land, this "encouraging" round risks joining the long list of stalled peace pushes even as Russia fired 108 drones overnight heading into the talks.
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