Kushner and Witkoff head to Russia and Ukraine in search of a diplomatic win

President Donald Trump’s advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are planning to travel to Moscow and Kyiv this weekend, according to two U.S. officials granted anonymity to discuss sensitive travel plans.

The possible stop in Ukraine would be the pair’s first visit to the country. Ukrainian officials have lobbied Witkoff and Kushner to visit for months, pointing to their more than a half-dozen visits to Moscow as a lopsided diplomatic effort that favors the Russians.

Witkoff and Kushner had initially pushed off Ukraine’s plea to visit, but the pair came around to the idea this summer as Trump warmed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, one of the U.S. officials said. 

While talks of specific peace terms have faded since a flurry of diplomacy over ending the war in Ukraine last year, the Trump administration will be looking for a win there as it simultaneously struggles to find a way out of its monthslong war with Iran. 

Trump had promised to end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, but almost two years later he and his team have made little progress.

Axios first reported Witkoff and Kushner’s travel plans. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zelenskyy said he expects Witkoff and Kushner to arrive in Kyiv on Sunday.

“Our goal is to make the visit and the talks with the U.S. side as constructive and substantive as possible. We need to look for real options for how to move this war toward an end. We will see what proposals Steve and Jared bring and what they are told in Moscow in response,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement Friday.

He said Ukraine will not carry out strikes in Russian airspace during the visit and called on Russia to do the same in Ukrainian airspace.

Russian state media also said that Witkoff and Kushner are expected in Moscow and Kyiv this weekend.

Their trip comes shortly after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Some U.S. officials’ expectations for an immediate end to the fighting are low, particularly after the administration’s diplomacy in the first year did little to break the impasse between Kyiv and Moscow.

Earlier this week, Trump said he wanted the war between Russia and Ukraine to end.

“I just want to see that end. I think we’ll get it,” he told the U.K.’s GB News on Wednesday, adding that Zelenskyy and Putin “hate each other,” adding to the difficulty of the negotiations.

Ukraine has rejected ceding territory to Russia that it has not lost in the fighting, and Moscow has not departed from maximalist demands that are unacceptable to Kyiv. 

Ukraine has gained an advantage on the battlefield in recent months as long-range strikes have degraded Russia’s Black Sea fleet and Russian oil assets. 

Ukrainian forces have been able to push back some Russian gains in the east but remain in desperate need of additional air defenses. Meanwhile, Moscow has continued to attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of winter, which is on track to be one of Kyiv’s most difficult since the war began.

Trump and Zelenskyy’s relationship has been rocky since Trump returned to the White House. At its lowest moment last February, Trump booted Zelenskyy from the Oval Office, telling the Ukrainian president he was “gambling with World War III.” Their relationship has improved, however, as the fighting has gone on and Trump has failed to leverage his personal relationship with Putin to end the war.

Julia Jester contributed reporting.

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