Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv With Peace Plan — SkimNews
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- Trump sent envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow on Saturday (Sep 4) with a "proposal to end the war," and they are expected in Kyiv on Sunday—their first visit to the Ukrainian capital since Trump returned to office.
- Putin ordered no strikes on Kyiv for three days from midnight Saturday, while Zelensky pledged Ukraine would refrain from striking Moscow through Monday, creating a rare mutual capital-strike truce around the negotiations.
- Zelensky accused Russia of trying to sabotage the visit with overnight strikes on Kyiv's two airports and a civilian target in the Dnipro region that killed five, and said a Russian drone had hit the SBU security service headquarters hours before Trump's announcement—the first such strike on the building since the war began.
- Trump declined to say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory, telling reporters only "we have an idea for peace," while the Kremlin declared Putin's core demands—Ukraine ceding four claimed regions and abandoning its NATO bid—are "unshakeable."
- Witkoff and Kushner, who previously helped negotiate ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have traveled repeatedly to Moscow; the new push follows CIA Director John Ratcliffe's rare Moscow trip last month and comes as peace efforts have partially stalled because of the US war with Iran.
- Since February's last peace talks, Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range missile and drone attacks, with front lines largely static as Russia presses for the Donbas and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries trigger summer fuel shortages.
Why it matters: Kremlin demands that stalled February's talks—four regions plus NATO abandonment—remain 'unshakeable' even as Trump sends envoys with a new plan, and Russia's overnight strikes on Kyiv's airports hours before the envoys' arrival underline how thin the goodwill gesture really is.
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