After Russia Bombs Ukraine’s Security Service, Trump Sends Envoys With a New Plan to End the War

Hours after a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service in central Kyiv, Donald Trump announced a new diplomatic mission aimed at ending the war. His envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were heading to Moscow and Kyiv with what the U.S. president called a “proposal to end the war.”

Trump said the two representatives would assess whether there was an opportunity to advance peace. Axios reported that they were expected to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5 and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv the following day. Trump did not say whether the plan included demands that Ukraine surrender territory.

The planned visit to Kyiv would be the first trip by U.S. envoys to Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House. Witkoff and Kushner have previously taken part in ceasefire talks involving Gaza and Iran, and have traveled to Moscow several times to pursue diplomacy over the Russia-Ukraine war.

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proposal to end the war

The mission comes as Russia and Ukraine continue exchanging missile and drone strikes. Agence France-Presse reported that the escalation had complicated recent U.S. peace efforts, while civilian casualties had risen to levels rarely seen since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Zelenskyy said the drone attack on the SBU headquarters had targeted the office of its acting head and marked the first such strike on the headquarters since the full-scale invasion. He then proposed that both sides stop air attacks for the duration needed for negotiations. Russia had not immediately replied. Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian attack on Kamianske had killed four people and wounded five.

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Ukraine can stop air attacks, and Russia should also stop air attacks for the time needed for the negotiations.