Putin pauses strikes on Kyiv for 72 hours as US envoys visit Russia

Ukrainian and US diplomats met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday evening in Moscow to discuss a potential resolution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. According to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, the talks aimed to explore various ideas to bring an end to the war that has raged for five years. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were said to be carrying a new peace proposal, though the details of the plan remained undisclosed.

US President Donald Trump had previously claimed that Kushner and Witkoff were traveling to Russia with a peace plan, which might have included territorial concessions from Ukraine, a suggestion Putin has previously made. In response to the talks, Russian leaders ordered a temporary ceasefire against Kyiv, with strikes set to cease for three days starting at midnight.

This decision came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to suspend airstrikes during the negotiations. Zelenskyy had previously told his citizens that the US delegation would visit Ukraine on Sunday following the talks in Moscow. The US envoy's presence in Kyiv was previously uncertain, with few reports of their visit to the capital since Trump's reelection last year.

Zelenskyy confirmed communication with the envoys via Telegram, stating that they were ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against negotiation zones. Despite Trump's initial pledge to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office, the situation has proven far more complex. In the past, Trump has blamed Ukraine for the Russian invasion and attributed the ongoing conflict to a "personality problem" between the leaders of the two nations.