President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have confirmed tentative dates for their first visit to Kyiv, with meetings also planned in Moscow, after months in which the diplomatic push stalled as Washington's attention shifted to Iran. The envoys have shuttled to Moscow repeatedly since Trump's peace effort began but never visited the Ukrainian capital; Zelensky said he had already spoken with them in July to try to reinvigorate the process.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that he had spoken with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, that Kyiv has their confirmation, and that tentative dates are set for their first visit to the Ukrainian capital, with meetings in Moscow also planned. The announcement came as Kyiv endured a Russian strike overnight.[1]
Zelensky said in his nightly address that Kyiv had received confirmation of meetings planned in both Moscow and Kyiv, and that Ukraine was counting on a visit in the coming days. Witkoff and Kushner have shuttled to Moscow multiple times but never visited Kyiv, and the newly confirmed dates mark the first time that pattern is set to change, after weeks in which Kyiv had publicly pressed for a firm date.[1], [2]
The diplomatic push to end the war had stalled in recent months as US attention shifted to the conflict with Iran, even as Witkoff and Kushner continued to serve as Trump's lead envoys in shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kyiv. Zelensky said he had already spoken with the two envoys in July, in a call he described as aimed at reinvigorating diplomacy and bringing peace closer; the newly confirmed dates extend that same channel, after months of stalled contact, to its first stop in the Ukrainian capital.[2]
