US envoys visit Kyiv for first time, signal return to trilateral talks but report no breakthrough
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Kyiv on 6 September 2026 for their first visit to Ukraine since Donald Trump's second presidential term began, after meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 5 September. They held three rounds of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, joined in the second round by national security advisers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and announced a planned return to the US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format and US support for a 'winter package' of assistance for Ukraine. Zelensky reported receiving a message that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate' but remained sceptical, while the Kremlin, Bloomberg sources and the Institute for the Study of War said the Moscow talks produced no substantive concessions.
Key points
- On 5 September, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for over three hours; on 6 September they travelled by train to Kyiv for their first visit to Ukraine since negotiations began in February 2025.
- Three rounds of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky took place on Sofiivska Square on 6 September; national security advisers from France, Germany and the UK (the E3) joined the second round.
- Witkoff and Zelensky both described the Kyiv talks as 'substantive'; Witkoff wrote on X that 'substantial progress' had been achieved and that the US aims to return to a US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format.
- Zelensky said the US supports a separate 'winter package' for Ukraine covering air defence, energy support and liquefied natural gas, alongside de-escalation steps.
- Zelensky said he was told by the US envoys that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate,' but expressed scepticism given continued Russian strikes and battlefield escalation; Russia's readout reaffirmed 'root causes' and maximalist aims, according to Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.
- Ukraine, France, Germany and the UK agreed to work over coming weeks on joint conditions for further negotiations with Russia; the next meeting's venue and date have not been announced.
- During the visits Ukraine and Russia agreed not to strike each other's capitals until 7 September; Russia resumed attacks on Kyiv and the region that evening.
Why it matters
This was the first visit to Ukraine by Trump's lead negotiators since the US–Russia negotiation track began in February 2025, breaking a long pattern of Moscow-only diplomacy. The talks introduced a new US–Ukraine–Europe coordination track alongside the bilateral US–Russia channel and produced a US-backed 'winter package' of air defence, energy and de-escalation support for Ukraine. Both sides publicly committed to returning to a US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format, but the absence of any concrete breakthrough, combined with the Kremlin's reaffirmation of maximalist demands and 'root causes,' signals that a wide gap remains before any formal peace process can restart.
What happened
On 5 September 2026, US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for more than three hours. The next day they travelled by train to Kyiv — their first visit to Ukraine since Trump's second term began — for three rounds of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sofiivska Square, joined in the second round by national security advisers from France (Emmanuel Bonne), Germany (Günter Sautter) and the United Kingdom (Jonathan Powell). Zelensky and Witkoff both described the talks as 'substantive'; Witkoff wrote on X that 'substantial progress' had been achieved and that the US aims to return to a US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format. Zelensky said the United States supports a separate 'winter package' for Ukraine covering air defence, energy and LNG supplies, and announced he had been told by the envoys that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate,' though he remained sceptical given continued Russian strikes. Ukraine, France, Germany and the UK agreed to work over the coming weeks on joint conditions for further negotiations with Russia, though no date or venue for the next meeting was set. The Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia does not rule out resuming the trilateral format but that it is premature to discuss timing or location; Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin reaffirmed Russia's commitment to its stated war aims and 'root causes.' During the visits, Ukraine and Russia agreed not to strike each other's capitals until 7 September; Russia resumed attacks on Kyiv that evening. Zelensky said he would use September and October to revive the diplomatic process and proposed the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of September as a possible venue for further US–Ukraine talks.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian coverage treated the visit as a symbolic milestone: the first time Witkoff and Kushner travelled to Ukraine since negotiations began in February 2025. Media highlighted the 'Peace Express' branding on the Ukrzaliznytsia departure board, the Sofiivska Square venue and the short tour of St Sophia's Cathedral. Attention focused on the composition of Ukraine's negotiating team — Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov, Foreign Intelligence Service head Rustem Umerov, Servant of the People faction head Davyd Arakhamia and First Deputy Head of the Office of the President Serhiy Kyslytsia — and on Zelensky's follow-on meeting covering air defence, technology cooperation and the 'winter package.' Zelensky's scepticism about Russia's readiness to negotiate was repeatedly quoted, set against Russia's continued attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and the Kremlin's reaffirmation of maximalist aims. Ukrainian analysts Oleksandr Kraiev, Maksym Dzhigun, Andriy Horodnytsky and Vadym Denysenko described the US approach as 'shuttle diplomacy' or 'a demonstration of form rather than substance,' questioned whether Witkoff and Kushner grasp the situation on the ground, and noted that the US envoys declined to lay flowers at the memorial wall to Ukraine's fallen defenders on Mykhailivska Square and refused to visit sites of Russian strikes even when nearby. Zelensky's subsequent interview with Axios, in which he said the US message was that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate' but that he believed Putin 'needs Trump' ahead of the US midterm elections, was treated as Kyiv's attempt to keep diplomatic momentum without conceding substance.
How international sources describe it
International outlets led with the absence of a breakthrough. Le Monde and the Financial Times reported that the documents brought by the US envoys were updated versions of previous plans with few genuinely new ideas and no concrete details on the American proposal. EU institutional voices — High Representative Kaja Kallas and European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand — welcomed the renewed diplomatic impulse but stressed Russia's continued escalation against civilians, infrastructure and Ukrainian grain exports, and reiterated EU readiness to maintain pressure on Russia. Sources at the Élysée Palace framed the Kyiv meeting as effectively launching a new US–Ukraine–Europe (E3) coordination format, and said the 'Anchorage formula' (the 3+2 territorial scheme linked to the August 2025 Trump–Putin Alaska meeting) and the previous 20-point plan are no longer considered the basis of any new process. Bloomberg sources briefed on the Moscow talks said Putin did not change his war plans and that the Kremlin continues to seek full control of Donetsk Oblast, with the Institute for the Study of War assessing Russian forces unlikely to capture it before 2032 at current rates. Coverage also highlighted Witkoff's effusive public comments about Putin and a reported 3.5-hour business lunch with Kirill Dmitriev at the start of the Moscow visit as indicators of the negotiation's character.
Where reporting differs
Sources disagree on whether Putin indicated any readiness to compromise: Zelensky reported receiving a message that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate' and that Putin is 'ready to discuss' ideas, while Bloomberg, the Institute for the Study of War, Kaja Kallas and the Élysée Palace said the Kremlin readout contained no substantive concessions beyond a 72-hour pause on strikes against Kyiv and a reaffirmation of maximalist aims and 'root causes.' Sources also disagree on whether the visits produced new proposals: Zelensky and Witkoff described 'several new ideas' being raised, while the Financial Times and Le Monde reported that the documents brought were updated versions of previous plans with few genuinely new ideas. There is also a discrepancy on the number of prior Witkoff trips to Moscow: Witkoff himself and most outlets cite eight trips, while one Ukrainian source cited by Ukrainska Pravda said Witkoff visited six times and Kushner twice.
Background
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump administration opened a separate US–Russia negotiation track in February 2025; until the 6 September 2026 visit, Witkoff had conducted eight prior trips to Moscow but none to Kyiv. Earlier US efforts included a 28-point plan later reformulated into a 20-point plan with input from Ukraine and European partners. Russia's State Duma elections were scheduled for 18–20 September; the US envoys told Kyiv and the E3 that new Russian readiness to negotiate could emerge afterwards. The Kremlin's 'Anchorage formula,' the territorial scheme associated with the August 2025 Trump–Putin meeting in Alaska, is reported by the Élysée Palace to no longer be considered relevant by the Americans.