MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour halt to strikes on Kyiv starting at midnight Saturday as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow in an effort to revive stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency.
Peskov said the decision was linked to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.
He also confirmed that Putin would meet the two envoys in Moscow but said there was “no talk of new ideas” for ending the conflict.
The announcement came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately striking airports in Kyiv and Boryspil ahead of the US delegation’s visit.
Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks appeared to be a response to discussions over the possibility of the US delegation flying directly into Ukraine. He had said Friday that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ visit and called on Moscow to do the same.
Witkoff and Kushner were met at the airport in Moscow by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Their trip comes as Washington seeks to revive peace efforts that have lost momentum in recent months.
The two envoys are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday after their Moscow talks, marking their first visit to the Ukrainian capital. They last visited Moscow in January, when they met Putin at the Kremlin.
The diplomatic push comes amid intensified aerial attacks by both sides.
Russian strikes killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region Saturday, according to regional authorities. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had struck two metallurgical plants it described as major suppliers for Ukrainian military production.
Two other people were wounded in an overnight attack in the Kyiv region, while strikes in the Mykolaiv region injured a 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and 167 attack drones overnight, including Shahed-type aircraft, with air defenses shooting down or suppressing 128 drones.
Russia, meanwhile, said it shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s Belgorod region, according to local officials.
Source: Saudi Gazette