Samuel Charap
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Witkoff and Kushner meet Putin in Moscow for more than three hours; travel to Kyiv set for September 6
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on the evening of September 5 after a 3.5-hour business lunch with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The meeting lasted more than three hours, according to Russian sources. Putin described the situation as "not simple," thanked Trump, and Witkoff thanked Putin for a three-day halt on strikes against Kyiv and Moscow to allow the US delegation to travel safely. Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to refrain from striking Moscow in return. The Kremlin said Putin's demands — including full territorial claims over four Ukrainian oblasts and Ukraine's renunciation of NATO membership — remain "unshakable." Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Kyiv on September 6, their first visit to the Ukrainian capital during Trump's presidency.