Witkoff and Kushner to travel to Russia and Ukraine to ‘end’ war, Trump says

Donald Trump says he is sending Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv and Moscow this weekend with an idea to revive peace talks and possibly “end the war.”

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I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner … to see whether or not we can get something done.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump said the U.S. special envoy and his son-in-law would travel to Ukraine and Russia to see whether progress could be made. “I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner … to see whether or not we can get something done,” he said. “And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.”

“We have an idea for peace,” Trump added, without giving details of the proposal. Russian state news agency TASS reported that the pair would be in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday, their first visit since January. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they would also visit Ukraine on Sunday, marking their first trip there since Trump returned to power.

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And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it.

The diplomatic effort comes as the fighting continues. Putin recently said negotiations were “frozen,” while Russia and Ukraine have intensified their air attacks. Russia struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service in Kyiv on Friday, injuring at least 12 people, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

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We have an idea for peace.

Al Jazeera correspondent Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said the strike had raised concerns about what could be targeted next. Some people, she said, wondered whether the attack might be intended to discourage the U.S. envoys from traveling to Ukraine. Trump attributed the lack of a peace deal in the more than four-year war to what he called a “personality problem” between Zelenskyy and Putin, saying the two leaders “truly hate each other.”

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President Zelenskyy and President Putin truly hate each other.