US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held “encouraging” talks in Kyiv on Sunday during their first official visit to Ukraine, but made no breakthrough toward ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Despite the renewed diplomatic push, Moscow and Kyiv remain divided over key issues, particularly territorial concessions. Kushner acknowledged the challenge, saying the US was working “behind the scenes” to create the conditions for a possible deal.
“It’s a very, very hard problem, but we’re going to try,” Kushner said.
As Ukraine’s airspace remains closed due to the conflict, the pair arrived in Kyiv by train from Poland, having held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow a day earlier.
Putin had declared a three-day ceasefire to ensure the envoys’ safety.
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Zelenskyy: We will need a ‘winter package’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held three rounds of talks with the US envoys, the final one joined by national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
After meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Zelenskyy said the talks focused on military aid, including Patriot missile systems and other weapons Ukraine will need in the coming months. He said Kyiv was seeking “serious volumes” of US support, with backing from its European partners.
“If the war drags on until winter — and that is how things currently look — we will need a ‘winter package’,” he said.
The Ukrainian president also expressed gratitude that representatives of European nations were in Kyiv.
“Here we are all on the same side,” he said.
What did Russia say about Moscow talks?
Momentum by US President Donald Trump to end the four-and-a-half-year-old conflict has stalled in recent months after talks with Putin at the Kremlin in January failed to produce a result.
Despite hopes of a breakthrough with the Russian leader on Saturday, there were no announcements after the meeting.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov described the Moscow talks as constructive, frank, and useful but didn’t discuss specific outcomes.
Ushakov said the talks also focused on economic issues and potentially large Russia-US projects.
During previous talks, negotiators have struggled to bring both sides together on a range of key issues, including the future of the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine war escalating in recent months
For Ukraine, hard security guarantees from its European allies and Washington are crucial to deterring Russia from further aggression.
Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, told the New York Times last weekend that he did not expect the fighting to end before spring 2027.
He also predicted further Russian strategic air strikes on Ukraine this winter.
The war has escalated in recent months, with Putin seeking the complete conquest of Donbas and Russian drones targeting the Ukrainian capital.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has focused its drone attacks on Russia’s energy sector. It has also targeted online retailers deep inside Russia to try and bring the war home to the public.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic, Dmytro Hubenko
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