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U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Kyiv on September 6, 2026 — their first-ever visit to Ukraine after eight prior trips to Moscow — to meet President Zelenskyy with new peace proposals, a day after talks with Vladimir Putin.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner** met Zelenskyy in Kyiv on September 6, 2026 — their first-ever Ukraine visit after eight prior trips to Moscow — arriving by train since Ukraine's airspace has been closed since the February 2022 invasion, and were joined by European national security advisors.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**A senior Ukrainian presidential official** told AFP the envoys brought new, "more effective" proposals on ending the war, with Zelenskyy meeting them in a trio format on Sunday.

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Witkoff and Kushner Make First-Ever Kyiv Visit for Ukraine Peace Talks — SkimNews

By The Hindu · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-06

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Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Zelenskyy in Kyiv on September 6, 2026 — their first-ever Ukraine visit after eight prior trips to Moscow — arriving by train since Ukraine's airspace has been closed since the February 2022 invasion, and were joined by European national security advisors.
A senior Ukrainian presidential official told AFP the envoys brought new, "more effective" proposals on ending the war, with Zelenskyy meeting them in a trio format on Sunday.
Both Russia and Ukraine pledged not to strike each other's capitals for three days around the visit, but the truce excluded everywhere else — Russia's air force said Moscow attacked overnight with 108 drones and missiles, and 10 Ukrainian civilians were killed Saturday, including a child and his family in the Kharkiv region.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia told the Americans Moscow was "confident" it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, and called the Moscow talks "extremely frank."
Zelenskyy showed the envoys Saint Sophia's Cathedral in central Kyiv, located opposite the SBU security building hit by a Russian drone on Friday, September 4.
Putin thanked Trump on September 5 for persisting in peace efforts despite it being "not simple," and told the envoys Russia would ensure their safety during the Kyiv visit.

Why it matters: This marks the first direct engagement between Trump's envoys and Ukraine's leadership after eight Moscow-only trips, injecting fresh proposals into a peace effort the article notes has stalled, in part because of the U.S. war with Iran. With Moscow signaling it still seeks to seize all of eastern Ukraine and the capital-only truce failing to halt overnight strikes that killed 10 civilians, the gap between American diplomatic activity and battlefield reality remains stark.