Moscow, Russia - US envoys, including President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, proposed a "number of ideas" on how to end the Ukraine war in "frank" talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv.
Trump's business partner Steve Witkoff and Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe's worst conflict since WWII.
Their visit to Moscow comes after the war – which has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes – escalated this summer. It also follows a visit last month to Moscow by the director of the CIA.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "extremely frank," saying the Americans "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement," but did not elaborate.
The Russian side told the Americans that Moscow was "confident" it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Ushakov added.
Both Russia and Ukraine have vowed not to strike each other's capitals for three days to allow for the negotiations to take place.
In televised comments before the talks, Putin said Russia would ensure the safety of the envoys in Kyiv – a city Moscow has pounded with deadly strikes throughout the war.
"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.
A day earlier, Kyiv said Russia had struck the headquarters of its SBU security services in the city's historic centre with a drone. Russia's TASS news agency reported the Americans had flown out of Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was expecting the envoys on Sunday, and it was unclear how they would get to Kyiv by then.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Moscow launched the war in February 2022, and visiting leaders have been arriving by train.