Witkoff and Kushner Hold Three-Hour Kremlin Meeting With Putin as Capitals Truce Takes Effect

US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin for a three-hour session on September 5, followed by dinner, reviving direct US-Russia peace contacts after months of stalled diplomacy. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov called the talks 'constructive' though no breakthrough was announced. Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv timed to the envoys' visit, and Ukraine reciprocated by pausing long-range strikes on Moscow, to allow the delegation's onward overland travel to Kyiv on September 6. Witkoff and Kushner described discussing 'substantive plans for next steps' toward ending the war.