Witkoff and Kushner call Kyiv talks 'substantive' after Moscow Putin meeting

KYIV: In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP hide caption.

Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have described held meetings in Kyiv on Sunday with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "substantive," with Witkoff saying he was "very encouraged."

The talks took place just a day after lengthy conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that produced no announced breakthrough about a potential end to the war.

Jared Kushner, speaking at a press conference in the Ukrainian capital directly after the discussions with Zelenskyy, did not divulge many details but said he and his fellow envoy had "learned a lot from the trip."

There will be further talks later Sunday alongside European security leaders, said Zelenskyy, who insisted before meeting the U.S. envoys that any agreement would need to include security guarantees and a "dignified post-war peace."

President Trump had suggested the two men were bringing new proposals to the talks, but Zelenskyy has shown little desire for the territorial concessions Moscow says are non-negotiable. That impasse has stalled prior rounds of U.S.-brokered diplomacy.

Witkoff and Kushner's Moscow meetings, held behind closed doors at the Kremlin, lasted more than three hours on Saturday. Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov later characterized the talks to reporters as constructive and useful, though he did not offer specifics about what, if anything, had been agreed.

This Bay News report is based on originating coverage from NPR.