Zelenskyy meets with US envoys Witkoff and Kushner in Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kyiv on Sunday.

“Negotiations have begun,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

According to Ukrainian news outlet TSN, Zelenskyy said Russia did not allow the US delegation to arrive by plane, even though Ukraine's airports were ready.

"Unfortunately, the Russians have shown through their strikes that they cannot allow us to use our airports, even though we have prepared everything and our airports are still operating today," he said.

Witkoff and Kushner, who is US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, arrived at Kyiv’s railway station earlier in the day, marking their first visit to Ukraine since the war with Russia began.

Their trip followed a visit to Moscow, where US representatives held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the talks lasted three hours and 10 minutes and covered the Ukraine war as well as potential major Russian-US projects.

Ushakov described the meeting as “substantive, constructive and extremely frank.”

Moscow and Kyiv last held peace negotiations under US mediation earlier this year, holding three rounds of peace talks in January and February.

Negotiations have since been paused, with Moscow and Kyiv attributing the halt to the US war on Iran, which began in late February.