Putin tells US envoys Russia will achieve its aims in Ukraine

Update, 6 September, 03:08 Israel time

The first quotes attributed to the Russian president from inside the meeting have emerged. Ynet, in a breaking alert, reported Putin telling the US envoys that Russia would achieve its objectives and that the roots of the conflict needed to be resolved. The alert does not give the wider context of the remarks, does not say who relayed them, and does not indicate whether the American side responded.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Kremlin talks had concluded, describing the meeting between the American and Russian sides as reportedly productive. The report is accompanied by a Kremlin pool photograph credited to Mikhail Metzel of Sputnik showing Putin shaking hands with Kushner while Witkoff stands nearby, the first visual confirmation on the record that the encounter took place.

The two accounts sit awkwardly together: the Ynet alert carries language from Putin restating Russian war aims, while the Jerusalem Post frames the outcome of the session in positive terms. Neither report sets out what was proposed by the American delegation, what if anything was agreed, or whether the Ukrainian offer to hold off on strikes against Moscow was raised in the room. Neither carries a Kremlin or White House readout, and neither addresses whether the envoys have reached Kyiv.

Update, 6 September, 01:08 Israel time

The meeting with the Russian president went ahead. Axios correspondent Barak Ravid wrote that Witkoff and Kushner met Putin for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, saying he had filed a report on the encounter for Axios. His post does not say how long the meeting lasted, who else attended, or what was agreed.

N12's Assaf Rosenzweig reported that Russian outlets say the two envoys have since left Moscow, and that, barring a change of plan, they are due to travel on to Kyiv. That report describes the trip as the envoys' first visit to Ukraine since the start of the Trump administration's term.

Neither report gives a Russian or American account of what was said in the room, and neither carries a response from Putin or the Kremlin to the Ukrainian offer to hold off on strikes against Moscow. There is still no confirmation from Kyiv that the envoys have arrived, and no indication in the new material of whether the announced pause on strikes on the Ukrainian capital has held.

Update, 5 September, 19:08 Israel time

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has spoken with the two US envoys, who by his account had already begun their talks with the Russian side. The Times of Israel reported that Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to hold off on strikes on Moscow from the moment of that conversation, and also on Sunday and Monday, and that he expects Russia to do the same in respect of Kyiv. Quoted on Telegram, Zelensky said that from the time of the call his country was prepared to observe a ceasefire on air strikes against the cities involved in the negotiating process.

The same report said Witkoff and Kushner are expected in Kyiv the following day, the first indication in the material that the trip extends beyond Moscow.

N12's foreign desk carried the Ukrainian statement in similar terms, saying Zelensky had made clear his country was ready to suspend attacks on Moscow for the next three days.

The two accounts describe the Ukrainian offer slightly differently: the Times of Israel version has it starting from the moment of the phone call and naming Sunday and Monday, while N12 frames it simply as the coming three days. Neither report gives a Russian response to the Ukrainian offer, and neither says what was discussed in the talks themselves.

Axios correspondent Barak Ravid wrote that a US government aircraft understood to be carrying the two envoys had landed in Moscow.

The story as first reported

Two envoys of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, landed in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to reporting carried by Israeli outlets. The Hebrew-language news desk at N12 reported the arrival of the two men in the Russian capital, and the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express also said the pair had touched down in Moscow.

Alongside the visit, the Kremlin announced that Putin had ordered a halt to strikes on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The Times of Israel, citing the Russian news agency Interfax quoting Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said the pause would run for three days and was framed as part of the preparations for the American delegation's visit. Peskov also told the Russian state news agency TASS that Putin was due to meet the two envoys the same day.

Who Witkoff and Kushner are

Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate businessman and a longstanding associate of Trump, has served as the president's special envoy and has been the administration's main channel to Moscow. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, worked in the White House during Trump's first term and has since been drawn back into diplomatic assignments. Both men have been identified in reporting as special representatives of the US president, and both have been used by the administration on files where it prefers direct personal contacts over formal diplomatic channels.

For Israeli readers the two names are familiar from a different arena: the same pair has been closely associated with Washington's Middle East diplomacy, which is one reason arrivals and departures involving them are tracked closely by Israeli news desks even when the subject is Ukraine.

What the Kremlin said, and how the timing is described

The Kremlin's message, as relayed by Russian state media, was that the order came from Putin himself and applied specifically to Kyiv rather than to the front line as a whole. The sources differ slightly on when the clock starts. The Times of Israel, quoting Peskov via Interfax, reported the halt beginning that day. Abu Ali Express said the Kremlin announced Putin had instructed that Kyiv not be struck starting at midnight, for three days. Neither account describes the pause as covering anything beyond the capital.

Ukraine's counter-claim

Kyiv did not present the announcement as a de-escalation. N12's foreign desk, citing the Reuters news agency, reported that while Russia said Putin had stopped the strikes on Kyiv ahead of the envoys' arrival, Ukraine said Russian attacks had killed five people over the previous day. The reports do not say where in Ukraine those deaths occurred, and they do not indicate whether the casualties fell before or after the announced start of the pause.

Why a short, city-specific pause matters

Limited and temporary halts to bombardment have become a recognisable feature of the war, usually announced by one side around a diplomatic date and usually contested by the other. They are distinct from a ceasefire: they do not require agreement from both parties, they carry no monitoring mechanism, and they can be described in different terms by the government that declares them and the government on the receiving end. That is the pattern visible here, with the Kremlin presenting the measure as preparation for talks and Ukrainian officials pointing to continued casualties.

What the reports do not say

The material does not say what Witkoff and Kushner were sent to discuss, what the American side had proposed, or whether any Ukrainian representatives were involved. It does not say whether the meeting with Putin took place as scheduled, or how long it lasted. It does not say whether the halt was observed. It gives no Ukrainian government response to the Kremlin announcement beyond the casualty figure attributed to Kyiv via Reuters, and no US comment on the pause at all. The discrepancy over whether the three days began immediately or at midnight is left unresolved in the reports, and nothing in the material indicates what happens when the period ends.