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US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia and Ukraine this weekend, as efforts to end the war appear to be gathering pace.<\/b><\/p>\n
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will meet the envoys on Sunday, after they visit Moscow on Saturday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
Witkoff and Kushner have led US President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a peace deal, but a gulf remains between the two warring sides.<\/p>\n
“They are bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump told reporters when asked about the visits.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Friday, Zelensky said a Russian drone hit the office of Ukraine’s security chief Oleksandr Poklad in Kyiv. Poklad appears to be unharmed.<\/p>\n
In a post on social media, Zelensky said he had ordered Poklad, who heads the SBU security service, to respond “adequately” to the attack.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, regional authorities said four people had been killed in a Russian strike on the south-eastern city Kamianske.<\/p>\n
Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said five others had been wounded.<\/p>\n
Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, have visited Russia multiple times, but the purported talks will be the first in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said he would guarantee the safety of Russian airspace during the envoys’ visit and called for Russia to do the same for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Russia’s state news agency Tass said Witkoff and Kushner were “expected to arrive in Moscow and then to Kyiv… on 5-6 September”, quoting a source.<\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters: “I wouldn’t announce anything, but when these contacts take place, we will inform you.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Putin told an international economic forum on Thursday that “there are chances” a peace deal could be reached.<\/p>\n
“First of all, Moscow and Kyiv must agree between themselves,” he said.<\/p>\n
But he showed no sign of backing down from his maximalist demands, which included more territorial concessions from Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Kyiv and its European allies have repeatedly rejected Putin’s terms saying they are tantamount to capitulation. <\/p>\n
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and currently controls about 20% of its territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n