US President Donald Trump has announced that his special envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, will be traveling to Russia and Ukraine this weekend to attempt to broker a peace deal between the two warring nations. According to Trump, they are bringing a proposal aimed at ending the war in its fifth year, although he did not elaborate on what the proposal entails. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that he will meet with the envoys on Sunday after they visit Moscow on Saturday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The trip comes as efforts to end the war appear to be gaining pace, but a gulf remains between the two sides. Trump's administration has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, much of which was transferred free of charge, and now the US is asking Europe to retroactively pay for this assistance.
Witkoff and Kushner have led Trump's efforts to broker a peace deal, but their itinerary has been in flux, and the Kyiv section of their journey was still uncertain. The pair were initially due to arrive in Kyiv by plane, but it was reported that Witkoff is "too scared" to travel to Kyiv for peace talks.
The trip also comes as Trump made a series of comments on social media, including claiming that European countries should repay the US for past Ukraine aid and slamming reports of heavily depleted US munition stockpiles amid the separate war in Iran.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine appear to hold high hopes for the ongoing US diplomatic push toward peace.
