United States special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ending Russia’s war against his country, marking their first visit to Kyiv since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
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envoys → hold → February
The meeting on Sunday came a day after the two met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
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two → come → Moscow
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thousands → look → floods
It is very important that the delegation has arrived to see us.
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delegation → arrive → us
We have been waiting a long time for Steve and Jared, Witkoff and Kushner,” Zelenskyy said, thanking US President Donald Trump for “allowing them to come” despite the war.
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them → wait → war
After the meeting, Witkoff said the US team had been “very encouraged” by what he described as a “substantive, important” discussion.
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he → say → discussion
On his part, Kushner said Trump wanted “not just to figure out how we end the current war, but how do we create the right conditions and arrangements for a long-term, durable peace”.
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we → say → peace
Earlier, Zelenskyy published a video of himself meeting Trump’s envoys in central Kyiv, saying, “Talks have begun.”
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Talks → publish → Kyiv
Zelenskyy said Europeans would participate in some of the talks with the US envoys.
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Europeans → say → envoys
“We are expecting one session of our talks, and then another session will be held with the European NSAs [national security advisers].
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session → expect → NSAs
Several important sessions,” he said.
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he → say → ?
The US envoys arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland, hoping to revive negotiations to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II after a summer of heightened tensions.
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envoys → arrive → tensions
While Witkoff and Kushner have visited Moscow eight times, they have never held talks in Kyiv until now.
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they → visit → Kyiv
Zelenskyy took the US envoys to see Kyiv’s historic Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, which sits opposite the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) security building that was hit by a Russian drone on Friday.
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that → take → Friday
Moscow’s four-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
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invasion → kill → millions
Previous rounds of US-mediated peace talks encouraged by Trump, who campaigned on a promise to quickly end the war, have yielded few results.
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who → mediate → results
He suggested on Friday that the US had a fresh proposal, though he did not elaborate.
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he → suggest → proposal
‘Highly useful’ meeting
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described Saturday’s meeting in Moscow, which ran more than three hours, as “highly useful”, while a White House official told the Reuters news agency that the next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.
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steps → describe → weeks
Ushakov called the talks “extremely frank”, saying the US team “put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement”, though he gave no details.
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he → call → details
In televised comments before those talks, Putin said Russia would ensure the safety of the envoys while in Kyiv.
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Russia → televise → Kyiv
“We will do everything that depends on us to ensure the safety of the negotiation process and mediators such as yourselves,” Putin told Witkoff and Kushner.
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Putin → do → Witkoff
Earlier on Saturday, Putin had thanked Trump for persisting in his efforts to end the war despite it being “not simple”.
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it → thank → war
Trump said again on Friday that his envoys were bringing a “proposal” to end the fighting.
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envoys → say → fighting
“We have an idea for peace,” he said, without elaborating.
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he → have → peace
US efforts have so far failed to bring about a breakthrough in the war, in part because of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
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efforts → fail → Iran
Meanwhile, Russia has occupied large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, and Putin has insisted Moscow is intent on seizing the rest of the east.
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Moscow → occupy → east
In previous talks, the two sides have remained far apart on a range of key issues, including the future of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
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sides → remain → Luhansk
Russia has demanded Ukraine’s withdrawal from an entrenched belt of towns that it still controls there, but Kyiv has refused, reckoning it can still hold out for years.
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it → demand → years
For Ukraine, hard security guarantees from its European allies and the US are crucial to deter Russia from invading again.
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guarantees → deter → Russia
No strikes on capitals
Both Russia and Ukraine have pledged not to strike each other’s capital for three days around the US team’s visit.
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Russia → pledge → visit
Yet despite the ceasefire agreement for the two cities, fighting continued elsewhere.
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fighting → continue → cities
The Ukraine Air Force said Russia had attacked overnight with 108 drones and missiles.
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Russia → say → drones
It also said on Sunday that it had struck the Ryazan oil refinery, about 480km (298 miles) inside Russia, overnight, causing a fire.
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it → say → fire
Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said it had shot down 400 drones in the past 24 hours, according to the Interfax news agency.
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it → say → agency
It added that strikes were carried out during the day on Ukrainian infrastructure facilities used by the country’s armed forces, as well as drone storage sites.
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strikes → add → forces
The Aporia
