Ukraine-Krieg: Selenskyj: US-Vermittler kommen am Sonntag nach Kiew

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that US mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Kiev on Sunday. According to Zelensky in a video message, Witkoff and Kushner will first visit Moscow and then travel to Kiev on Sunday. Ukraine is preparing for their arrival. While an official confirmation of the US side's trip was initially absent, Zelensky mentioned that Kiev would, as it has in previous US diplomatic visits, guarantee normal operation of Russian airspace for the visit.

No Ukrainian airstrikes would occur, he stated, with Russia expected to mirror the response. Unconfirmed reports had earlier suggested that US Special Envoy Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Kushner planned to travel to Moscow on Saturday and Kiev on Sunday. The "New York Times" reported, citing officials familiar with the diplomatic efforts, that the expectation was for US mediators to first meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and then Zelensky.

Negotiations over the visit had been dragged out for weeks, with the US insisting Ukraine temporarily halt its drone strikes on Moscow and stop Russian missile attacks on Kiev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had responded on the afternoon of the Russian news agency Tass that he would not announce when Witkoff and Kushner were expected in Moscow, but would inform about their arrival if the contacts took place.

Witkoff and Kushner, responsible for efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that has been ongoing for over four and a half years, had not visited Kiev in recent months as Washington focused on its war against Iran. US mediators had visited Moscow multiple times since 2025, but had never been to Kiev for their mediation efforts.