U.S. envoys leave Kyiv after talks with Zelenskyy: Ukraine official — SkimNews
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- Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv by train for their first meeting with Zelenskyy after eight previous trips to Moscow, bringing what a senior Ukrainian presidential official called new "more effective" proposals to end the war.
- Both Russia and Ukraine pledged not to strike each other's capitals for three days around the American visit, with Zelenskyy declaring Ukraine was "ready for the conversation" and Putin assuring envoys' safety.
- Russia told the Americans it was "confident" it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, describing the Moscow talks as "extremely frank."
- Russia launched 108 drones and missiles overnight while the capital truce was in effect, killing 10 people on Saturday including a child and family members in the Kharkiv region, while Moscow claimed it shot down 258 Ukrainian drones.
- Zelenskyy showed the U.S. envoys Kyiv's Saint Sophia's Cathedral, directly opposite the SBU security building hit by a Russian drone on Friday, September 4.
- European national security advisors joined Ukraine's top security officials and negotiators at the talks, held in a trio format with Zelenskyy, Kushner, and Witkoff.
Why it matters: The visit marks the first time Trump's envoys have engaged Kyiv directly after eight Moscow trips, but Russia's simultaneous claim of battlefield confidence in seizing eastern Ukraine and continued strikes — 108 drones overnight — expose a gap between negotiation theater and reality. The three-day capital-only truce excludes the rest of the country, where Russian strikes killed 10 on Saturday including a child.
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