Putin Orders 72-Hour Kyiv Pause Amid US Talks

U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled from Moscow to Kyiv after more than three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington’s latest effort to revive negotiations over Russia’s war in Ukraine. Witkoff said “substantive progress” had been made toward scheduling new trilateral talks, while Zelenskyy said the envoys conveyed that Moscow was ready to negotiate and presented proposals involving energy infrastructure, grain shipments, and oil and gas exports. Ukraine and European partners are expected to develop negotiating terms covering security guarantees, territory and sanctions, while Kyiv continues to reject territorial concessions and seek a sustainable postwar settlement. No concrete agreement or breakthrough was announced, and the Kremlin said only that it had not ruled out renewed three-way talks; analysts questioned whether Russia had softened its broader demands, including its claims concerning Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk. A temporary pause in attacks around Kyiv ended with Russia resuming drone strikes, underscoring that diplomacy has not halted the fighting and that the war could continue through the winter.