Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday orders a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine as US President Donald Trump's senior envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to discuss a proposal to bring the four-and-a-half-year war to end.
"Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today," presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass news agency.
However, it remains to be seen if Putin will be able to hold his horses as Russia violated a previous three-day truce announced by Trump in May. Back then, Peskov said the Americans are in a hurry. "The issue of a Ukrainian settlement is too complex, and reaching a peace agreement is a very long road with many complicated details," said Peskov.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in May that Moscow will return to the negotiation table only after the Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donetsk region.
However, CIA Director John Ratcliffe's recent talks with Russian intelligence chiefs in Moscow seem to have changed Putin's mind.
Kushner and Witkoff had been planning their Russia trip for months, but it was rescheduled several times before both sides settled on this weekend. "They're bringing with them a plan to end the war," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday a day after meeting the two envoys at the White House.
After their Moscow leg of the trip, the Trump envoys are due to arrive in Kyiv on Sunday. Putin's ceasefire order comes after Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine would not carry out airstrikes on Russia on Saturday, considering the safety of the US envoys.
"Russia must do the same, ensuring there are no air strikes from its side for the time needed to hold these talks and handle the logistical matters related to this American visit," Zelenskyy said. "We will see what proposals Steve and Jared bring and what they are told in Moscow in response."
