Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday for Ukraine peace discussions. Reuters later reported that they landed at Moscow's governmental Vnukovo airport, where Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met them before they left for the city in a motorcade. An earlier report described a business jet believed to carry them; neither the White House nor the Kremlin had confirmed its passengers at that point. [E1] [E4]
Trump had said Friday that the envoys carried a proposal to end the war. Its text was unavailable. [E4]
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Witkoff and Kushner would visit Moscow and then Kyiv on Sunday. His public announcement set out Kyiv's itinerary for the two-capital trip, without establishing what Moscow would offer. [E3]
Russian long-range attacks continued as the trip began. Zelenskyy said Russia had struck Kyiv's Zhuliany and Boryspil airports overnight, calling the attacks a signal against discussion of a U.S. aircraft landing in Ukraine. That was his explanation for the strikes; their motive had not been independently established. Independent details of damage at the two airports remained unconfirmed, as did any planned U.S. landing site. [E2]
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS that any settlement must consider battlefield realities. Ukrainian military sources said combat continued because a unilateral pause would endanger personnel. Both sides were still asserting their military reasons for holding position as the envoys began their talks. [E4]
The envoys' arrival and Dmitriev's role at the airport were established more firmly than the motive Kyiv assigned to the Russian strikes during the same period. [E1] [E3] [E2] Moscow's public negotiating position also remained unchanged, according to Reuters; whether the visit would produce different terms was still open. The Kremlin continued to uphold Vladimir Putin's demands concerning four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia and Ukraine's NATO membership aspirations. [E3]