Putin promises to stop attacks during US visit

 

TT

 

Published 01.59Updated 14.47

  

Visa merUS negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are received by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow on Saturday. The image comes from Dmitriev's X account. Photo: AFP/X/@KADMITRIEV/TTShow more

US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are in Moscow to try to revive negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia has continued deadly attacks ahead of the visit - but President Vladimir Putin is now promising a three-day halt to the attacks.

- Putin has ordered that no attacks be carried out on Kiev for three days, starting from midnight, the Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency Tass.

The decision was made in connection with the upcoming meetings with the US negotiators, Peskov added. The announcement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a pause in Ukrainian attacks during the Americans' trip on Friday.

Kushner and Witkoff landed at the airport outside Moscow at noon on Saturday. They are expected to meet Putin in person over the weekend.

“They have a proposal to end the war,” said President Donald Trump when he confirmed the envoys' trip.

Also expected in Kiev

Their last known visit to Russia was in January – a month before the US started the war against Iran that for a long period shifted Washington's focus to the Middle East.

During that time, the war in Ukraine has escalated with intensified long-range attacks from both sides and increased civilian death tolls as a result.

Kushner and Witkoff have never visited Ukraine during previous attempts at negotiations. But according to Zelenskyy, this time they are also expected to travel to Kiev, specifically on Sunday for meetings with the Ukrainian president.

Several dead

Ahead of the negotiations, Russia has continued to attack Ukraine. In Kamianske, just west of the large city of Dnipro, at least four people were killed in a nighttime attack, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram.

In the Kiev region, a nine-story building was hit in Boryspil, a couple of miles outside the capital, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The day before, on Friday, the headquarters of the Ukrainian security service SBU in Kiev was hit by a Russian drone, according to President Zelensky, and later in the evening another explosion was reported in the central parts of the capital.