US Envoys to Visit Kyiv, Moscow in Fresh Push for Peace, Zelenskyy Says

U.S. envoys are set to visit Kyiv soon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“I just held a meeting with the team engaged in negotiations with the envoys of the U.S. President. We are in communication with them virtually 24/7 and are now preparing for meetings,” Zelenskyy said in a Sept. 3 post on X.

He added that “tentative dates have been set” and that he expected to meet with President Donald Trump’s representatives in the Ukrainian capital.

“They confirmed they will have a meeting in Moscow and another one in Kyiv. We expect the latter to take place in the coming days,” he said, describing the move as “very important” and saying that his government is “ready to meet with them in Ukraine—properly and substantively.”

On Friday, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing anonymous sources, that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were set to visit Moscow as soon as Sept. 5, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the dates of the duo’s visit, telling TASS only that “when these contacts take place, we will inform you.”

Peskov added that the Kremlin currently had “no concrete preconditions” for a peace deal, but said that work and contacts were “ongoing” to establish them.

Witkoff and Kushner last visited Moscow in January, when they held four hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, which dragged on late into the night.

The last U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Geneva, Switzerland, in February, shortly before the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.

The United States has not yet confirmed whether the envoys are visiting the warring nations. The Epoch Times contacted the White House for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The putative push for negotiations comes a day after Putin said on Sept. 3 that there was “a chance” of achieving peace with Ukraine and expressed a desire to rekindle relations with the United States.

On the subject of Ukraine, the Russian president said Moscow was “grateful to everyone who is trying to contribute to resolving this issue,” and that, in his opinion, there is “a chance” of peace, according to TASS.

He said that for hostilities to end between Moscow and Kyiv, “Russia and Ukraine must first reach an agreement” between themselves, and he acknowledged that “all other countries are ready to support and assist” in achieving that.

The Russian leader also revealed that contact between Moscow and Kyiv was ongoing via the two nations’ intelligence services, but he said that it was difficult for him to say “to what extent these contacts are leading to a peace agreement.”

Regarding Russo–American relations, Putin confirmed that Moscow was still in contact with Washington and hoped the contact would continue.

Alluding to CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent trip to Moscow on Aug. 25 for meetings, the Russian president said that everyone was aware of cooperation between U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies and of administration officials appointed by Trump.

He said that the collaboration was “working” and expressed a hope that it will “ultimately lead to a positive outcome.”

“[Moscow is] in favor of restoring relations with the United States in full, but this does not depend solely on us; it depends on the American side,” he added.

However, he stressed that he believed that Trump is “determined to engage in such positive, constructive work.”

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine ​in 2014.

On Aug. 24, Ukrainian Independence Day, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv “absolutely wants peace, but it is not ready to simply surrender,” adding that Russia would not halt its military aggression, even if Ukraine agreed to its demands for more territory in the east.