It's Complicated, Putin Tells Kushner, Witkoff About Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin spent about three hours behind closed doors in the Kremlin on Saturday with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, opening the talks by telling President Trump's envoys that the Ukraine battlefield situation is "difficult." Putin publicly praised Trump's push for a new plan to halt the 4½-year war, Reuters reports, but neither side released details of what was discussed. Witkoff and Kushner are scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.

In an unusual move to facilitate the envoys' next stop, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin ordered Russian forces to hold off strikes on Kyiv for three days starting at midnight Saturday, while Zelensky said Kyiv would pause attacks on Moscow through Monday. Putin promised the Americans' safety on their trip and noted Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia had dipped, though he stopped short of a wider ceasefire. Behind the diplomatic choreography, Moscow's core demands remain unchanged: Russia insists Ukraine hand over all territory in four occupied regions and abandon NATO ambitions, terms Kyiv rejects as surrender. Putin told the Americans that "the situation we have to deal with today is certainly not simple," per the New York Times.