US envoys discussed ‘substantive plans’ with Putin for ending Ukraine war, White House says

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow for over three hours on Saturday. According to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, the discussions were described as "extremely useful" but no progress was made. The envoys, who are representing former US President Donald Trump, put forward a number of ideas regarding possible ways to reach a settlement, but Ushakov did not specify what those ideas were.

The talks come as both Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range airstrikes, with front lines remaining largely unchanged. Putin told the envoys that Russia is making "real progress" on the battlefield and is confident of achieving its objectives, while stressing the need to address "all root causes of the conflict." The envoys left Moscow by air shortly after the talks and are scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed not to strike each other's capitals for three days to allow the negotiations to take place. According to CBS News, this was a new effort to end the war with Ukraine. The Korea Times reported that Washington's push to end the fighting has lost momentum as US attention has been focused on the Iran war.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Times of Israel, CBS News, Ajel English, The Korea Times, New Straits Times — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.