Moscow \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a 72-hour ceasefire on strikes against Kyiv, the Kremlin announced Saturday, coinciding with the arrival in the Russian capital of U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in an attempt to revive negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Tass news agency that no strikes would be carried out against Ukraine’s capital starting at midnight, linking the decision to preparations for the envoys’ planned visit to Kyiv on Sunday. Peskov confirmed that Kushner and Witkoff would meet with Putin during their Moscow trip but stated there were “no talk of new ideas” to resolve the conflict.<\/p>\n
The diplomatic mission arrives as both sides have escalated aerial attacks more than four and a half years into the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine would halt its own airstrikes during the envoys’ visit and called on Moscow to reciprocate.<\/p>\n
Washington’s push to end the fighting has lost momentum in recent months as U.S. attention has shifted toward its confrontation with Iran. Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, last visited Moscow in January when they met Putin at the Kremlin. This marks their first trip to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival at Moscow’s airport, the U.S. delegation was welcomed by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photographs of the meeting alongside the caption “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers,” according to Tass.<\/p>\n
With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified bombardments of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, extending attacks into daylight hours and exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of air defense systems. On Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) in Kyiv, one of the agencies conducting deep-strike operations inside Russian territory.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s long-range strikes have targeted Russian military facilities, oil refineries, and e-commerce hubs in an effort to undermine the Kremlin’s war economy and make civilians feel the consequences of the conflict.<\/p>\n
The air war has intensified as troops on both sides struggle to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer front line. Russia has recently deployed fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and air-raid sirens have become a regular feature of daily life in Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russia had conducted overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, linking the attacks to the planned U.S. visit. He characterized the strikes as a reaction to preparations for a potential U.S. aircraft flight to Ukraine, adding that Kyiv would adjust its operations accordingly.<\/p>\n
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian attacks killed five workers at an industrial facility and wounded five others, local official Oleksandr Hanzha said. A 62-year-old man was injured and several homes damaged in a separate strike on the Nikopol district.<\/p>\n
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it had hit two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as key suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production. Two more people were wounded in overnight strikes on the Kyiv region, where a fire from a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building in the Boryspil district.<\/p>\n
overnight Russian forces launched ballistic missiles from Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones, including Shahed-type aircraft and Geran drones, Ukraine’s air force reported. Air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s Belgorod border region, while Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia pauses Kyiv strikes as U.S. envoys Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Moscow to revive stalled Ukraine peace efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[708,768,2065,1952,195,34,1110,26],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","tag-diplomacy","tag-kyiv","tag-moscow","tag-peace-talks","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}