DistantNews
Support us
🇹🇷 Turkey /Conflict & Security

Putin Orders 72-Hour Halt to Strikes on Kyiv as US Envoys Arrive

From Daily Sabah · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Kremlin says Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to halt strikes on Kyiv for 72 hours as U.S. envoys arrived in Moscow.
  • Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to travel to Kyiv and meet Putin, while Russia says no new peace proposals are under discussion.
  • The pause comes amid intensified Russian and Ukrainian air attacks and renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the war.

Vladimir Putin has ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv just as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive stalled efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency. Peskov linked the decision to the envoys’ planned visit to Kyiv on Sunday, confirmed by Ukrainian officials. He said the two Americans would also meet Putin, while dismissing the idea that they were bringing fresh proposals. There was, he said, “no talk of new ideas” for resolving the conflict.

Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today.

· Dmitry PeskovThe Kremlin spokesman described Putin’s order to halt strikes on Kyiv.

The development follows a call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia to suspend airstrikes during the envoys’ visit. Zelenskyy said Kyiv would do so, raising the prospect of a temporary reduction in hostilities as diplomatic contacts resume. Yet Russia and Ukraine have continued to intensify their aerial attacks, more than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

no talk of new ideas

· Dmitry PeskovPeskov rejected the prospect that the U.S. envoys were bringing new proposals to end the war.

The last known Moscow visit by Witkoff and Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, took place in January. Neither had previously visited Kyiv. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev met the delegation at the Moscow airport and posted photographs with the caption, “Welcome to Moscow, Peacemakers.”

The pause was announced against a backdrop of relentless bombardment and Ukrainian shortages of air-defense systems. A Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, in Kyiv on Friday. Ukraine has carried out long-range strikes against Russian military sites, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs. Along the 1,250-kilometer front line, ground forces have made little progress, while Russia has increasingly used fast, jet-powered drones. Zelenskyy said overnight strikes also hit Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, calling them a reaction to preparations for the U.S. visit.

Welcome to Moscow, Peacemakers.

· Kirill DmitrievThe Russian envoy used the caption when posting photographs of the U.S. delegation’s arrival.
About this summary

Originally published by Daily Sabah in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog