Putin, Zelensky order strikes pause amid peace talks

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Jared Kushner (left) and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (right) are welcomed by presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev (centre) upon their arrival in Moscow.—AFP • Witkoff, Kushner to reach Kyiv today after talks with Putin • Diplomats carrying proposal ‘to end war’ MOSCOW: With both Russia and Ukraine agreeing not to strike each others’ capitals for three days to allow the negotiations to take place, US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held around three hours of late-night talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war on Saturday, ahead of their first visit to Kyiv on Sunday. US President Donald Trump has said his son-in-law Kushner and business ally Witkoff were bringing a “proposal” on ending fighting. Talks ended after just over three hours, past 11pm in Moscow. The envoys are due on Sunday in Ukraine’s capital for the first time, as Washington tries to revive US-led talks to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War Two. In televised comments before the closed-door talks began, Putin than­ked Trump for “not stopping” to try to end the war — launchd by Russia in 2022 — despite it being “not simple”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said, “The Russian president, the commander-in-chief, has given the order from midnight tonight not to strike Kyiv for three days.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky —who had offered a truce during the US visits — said he had spoken to the US envoys and also promised Kyiv would not strike Moscow. “From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow,” Zelensky said on social media. The Ukrainian leader said the US officials have “already begun working with the Russian side today.” Earlier, he accused Rus­sia of trying to disrupt their visit with strikes on Kyiv’s two airports, as well as on a civilian target in the Dnipro region that killed five people. “Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” Zelensky said on X. The envoys are expe­cted in Kyiv on Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP, while US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday. Trump told reporters the envoys would seek to gauge whether prog-ress towards peace was possible. “I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it,” Trump said. The renewed push for dip­lomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks. Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2026

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