President Trump’s two senior envoys traveled straight from a three-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to a new round of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner called Sunday’s discussions “encouraging,” but neither side announced a ceasefire, a signed framework or a breakthrough on the hardest questions dividing Russia and Ukraine.

The trip marked Witkoff and Kushner’s first official visit to Kyiv. It also placed the American delegation in direct talks with both wartime presidents over the same weekend as Washington tries to restore momentum to negotiations.

The Associated Press reported that the American envoys held two rounds of discussions in Kyiv. Afterward, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was seeking a just and fair peace that would prevent Russia from having another opportunity to attack.

The White House has not publicly released the full proposal taken to Moscow or the message carried from Putin to Kyiv. That leaves the central terms—including territory, security guarantees, sanctions and enforcement—unresolved in public.

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The talks took place against a difficult military backdrop. Russia has recently expanded its use of fast jet-powered drones, air-raid alerts remain routine in Kyiv, and neither army has made a decisive breakthrough along the roughly 775-mile front.

The diplomacy is moving faster than the public evidence of compromise.

Putin described the situation as complicated when he received the delegation at the Kremlin. According to Axios, he also told Witkoff and Kushner that he trusted the United States to mediate between the two sides.

The Moscow meeting lasted more than three hours. The envoys left without speaking publicly and continued to Kyiv, making the Ukrainian stop the next test of whether the positions discussed in Russia could produce a workable negotiating path.

The visit was also unusually significant in diplomatic terms. It was the highest-level public trip to Ukraine by members of President Trump’s team since his second term began, and the same two intermediaries were able to hear each government’s position face to face within roughly a day.

Before the envoys arrived, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to pause airstrikes against cities involved in the negotiating process. His official September 4 address said Kyiv wanted the visit to be constructive and substantive while searching for a real route toward ending the war.

Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop striking each other’s capitals for a limited period connected to the diplomatic travel. That arrangement did not amount to a nationwide ceasefire, and fighting continued elsewhere.

The contrast was visible overnight. Russian attacks killed one person and wounded at least 10 others even as the temporary protection around the two capitals held, according to the AP.

Zelenskyy said the pause was meant to protect the negotiators’ travel and create room for serious discussion, not to shield Russia from the wider consequences of the war. He also said Ukraine expected to hear what ideas the envoys carried and how Moscow had responded to them.

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The Associated Press reported from Moscow that the weekend mission followed months in which the Ukraine initiative had lost momentum while Washington focused heavily on the war involving Iran. The latest trip was designed to test whether direct shuttle diplomacy could narrow that gap.

At the opening of the Kremlin meeting, Putin asked the envoys to convey his wishes and gratitude to President Trump. Russian officials later called the exchange substantive, but released no terms. Witkoff and Kushner then departed for Kyiv without giving reporters their own account of what had moved—or what had not.

That silence matters because both sides can describe a meeting as productive while remaining far apart on the substance. Until a joint document, ceasefire mechanism or agreed next meeting emerges, the public record shows active diplomacy but no verified settlement.

For Ukraine, stopping the shooting is only the first test. Kyiv has repeatedly sought durable security guarantees and protections against another Russian offensive.

For Moscow, the public position has continued to include demands that Ukraine and its supporters have rejected. No statement after Sunday’s talks indicated that those differences had been settled.

That makes “encouraging” a description of the atmosphere, not evidence of a completed deal. The next meaningful sign of progress would be a concrete step accepted by both governments—such as a broader ceasefire, a leaders’ meeting or an agreed framework for negotiations.

For now, the weekend produced renewed contact at the highest levels and a direct American channel running from Putin to Zelenskyy. Whether that channel can carry more than messages remains the central question.

 

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