Russia’s Putin meets US envoys to discuss Trump proposal to end Ukraine war

Both Russia and Ukraine vow not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during talks in Moscow and Kyiv.Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with envoys from the United States on ending more than four years of war in Ukraine, ahead of their expected visit to Kyiv on Sunday.Putin met Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday after the two arrived in the Russian capital earlier in the day.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Witkoff and Kushner will travel to ‘end’ Russia’s war in Ukraine: Trumplist 2 of 3Will Europe pay the US to provide military aid to Ukraine?list 3 of 3Trump sends envoys to Russia, Ukraine with new peace planend of list“Dear colleagues, I warmly welcome you to Moscow. The situation is, of course, not simple,” Putin told the envoys in a ceremony aired on Russian TV.Both Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, as Washington tries to revive US-led talks to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.Earlier, Trump said son-in-law Kushner and Witkoff, his special envoy and business ally, were bringing “a proposal to end the war”.In Putin’s address to them, he said: “I would like to ask everyone to convey their best wishes and words of gratitude to US President Mr Trump”.Witkoff said Trump had sent his best wishes to Putin and ⁠⁠thanked him for ⁠⁠the limited ceasefire during the delegation’s visit. Putin said ⁠⁠Russia would do its ⁠⁠utmost to ensure ⁠⁠the safety of the mediators.Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said that there are “some more or less optimistic reports” from the Kremlin regarding the progress of the talks between Putin and the US envoys.On the one hand, Putin says that he “remains publicly open to peace talks”, said Shapovalova. But on the other, “following all of Ukraine’s escalating drone operations deep inside Russia and the targeting of major economic and logistics hubs like oil infrastructure and online retailers”, he maintains that he won’t make any concessions on any key issues, that major differences remain in place and that he won’t negotiate with “terrorists”.