Trump envoys' planned first Kyiv visit thrown into question after Russian warnings, reports say
US President Donald Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were due to travel to Moscow and then Kyiv on September 5–6, in what would have been their first visit to Ukraine. By September 4, however, the Kyiv leg was in doubt, with sources telling Kyiv Independent that Witkoff had "got scared" of the trip after Russians warned him it was dangerous. President Volodymyr Zelensky had publicly said the dates were set, while the Kremlin declined to confirm the Moscow leg in advance.
Key points
- Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner planned to visit Moscow before traveling to Kyiv on September 5–6.
- It would have been the first visit by either envoy to Ukraine; both have repeatedly traveled to Moscow for meetings with Vladimir Putin.
- On September 3, Zelensky said Witkoff and Kushner had confirmed the likelihood of visiting Kyiv "in the coming days."
- On September 4, Kyiv Independent reported, citing a source, that Witkoff "got scared" of the Kyiv leg because Russians were telling him it was dangerous, and that alternative plans were being discussed.
- Reuters reported that September 6 was considered as a possible date for the Kyiv trip, but the final date remained under discussion.
- The Kyiv visit was previously postponed from Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24 due to intensified Russian strikes on Kyiv; Russian drone attacks on the capital had been ongoing for nine consecutive days as of September 4, and a drone struck Zhuliany airport that morning.
- Earlier in the year the visit was reportedly postponed because Trump wanted to keep the diplomats close amid an unresolved standoff with Iran.
- Witkoff and Kushner have previously presented Trump with a war-ending plan based "exclusively on Russian demands," according to reporting cited in Ukrainian media.
Why it matters
The trip would have been the first time either Witkoff or Kushner set foot in Ukraine, despite multiple Moscow visits and a war-ending plan they reportedly shaped around Russian demands. The fact that the Kyiv leg is now in doubt after Russian pressure is being read as evidence of Moscow's leverage over the envoys, and as a test of whether the Trump administration will engage Kyiv directly or confine its shuttle diplomacy to the Russian side.
What happened
Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were scheduled to arrive in Moscow and then travel to Kyiv on September 5–6, according to a TASS source. By September 4 the plan had begun to unravel: Kyiv Independent reported that Witkoff had "got scared" of the Kyiv leg because Russians were telling him it was dangerous, and that alternative arrangements were being discussed. Reuters said September 6 was under consideration but the final date was still unsettled. Zelensky said on September 3 that the envoys had confirmed they would come "in the coming days," and Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said they planned to land at Boryspil, though doubts remained. The Kremlin, for its part, declined to confirm the Moscow leg in advance. The backdrop included nine consecutive days of Russian drone strikes on Kyiv, a drone strike on Zhuliany airport that morning, and a series of earlier postponements of the visit.
Where reporting differs
One source describes Russian strikes on Kyiv as ongoing "for over a week," while another specifies nine consecutive days as of September 4.
Background
Witkoff and Kushner have reportedly presented Trump with a war-ending plan based "exclusively on Russian demands." Ukraine has been inviting them since at least April of the current year, but neither had visited Kyiv before the planned September 5–6 trip. A first attempt to visit on Independence Day, August 24, was postponed because of intensified Russian strikes on Kyiv, and an earlier summer visit was reportedly postponed because Trump wanted to keep the diplomats close amid the unresolved confrontation with Iran. CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow on August 25, after which Trump said something "might come of" the trip. On August 24 Zelensky said Kyiv, Trump's representatives and European officials had developed a new plan calling for a ceasefire, mutual troop withdrawal and a buffer zone.