Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in attacks against Kiev, starting at midnight. The decision was announced by the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, to the Tass news agency, and is related to preparations for the visit to the Ukrainian capital by American special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the President of the United States, scheduled for Sunday.
The American envoys arrived in Moscow on Saturday with the aim of reviving negotiation efforts to end the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. They were met at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Peskov confirmed that the envoys would meet with Putin, but stated that there are no new ideas being discussed to end the conflict.
This is the second visit by Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow, having met with Putin at the Kremlin in January 2026. The envoys had never previously visited Kiev, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he was expecting them in the capital on Sunday.
On Friday, Zelensky had declared that Ukraine would suspend aerial attacks during the envoys' visit and urged Moscow to do the same. The Ukrainian President accused Russian attacks on Kiev's airport of being an attempt to sabotage peace negotiations.
