Putin orders 3-day halt to strikes on Kyiv ahead of US envoys’ visit: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv beginning at midnight local time (2100GMT), the Kremlin said.

In an interview with Russian state news agency Tass, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision was made ahead of a planned visit to Kyiv by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Putin ordered no strikes on Kyiv for three days, effective midnight today. This is due to American talks in Kyiv," he said.

Peskov said Putin will meet with Witkoff and Kushner later in the evening.

"The meeting with the president will indeed take place. There will be a discussion. As a rule, they have been quite lengthy before," he said.

Earlier Saturday, Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow for talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war. The US envoys are expected to visit Kyiv on Sunday for the first time following their Moscow trip.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Kyiv would not launch strikes during Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Russia and called on Moscow to take reciprocal steps when the envoys arrive in Ukraine.

Witkoff and Kushner have never visited Kyiv, while both have made several trips to Moscow since US-mediated talks began. Their latest visit was on Jan. 22, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

Trump said Friday that Kushner and Witkoff would travel to Moscow not with new proposals, but with a proposal aimed at ending the war.

Moscow and Kyiv last held US-mediated peace negotiations earlier this year, with three rounds of talks on Jan. 23-24, Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 17-18. The first two rounds were held in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.

The negotiations have since been paused, with Moscow and Kyiv attributing the halt to Washington's focus on Iran following the outbreak of war in late February.