Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv as U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow hoping to restart stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Kyiv had previously proposed a ceasefire ahead of the diplomatic talks.
“Indeed, such information was received from the Ukrainian side. Russian President and Commander-in-Chief Putin gave orders to hold off on attacks on Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” Moscow press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Saturday.
“This is due to the preparation and conduct of American contacts in Kyiv,” Peskov said. Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.
Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities have intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine, meanwhile, has stepped up its hits on Russia’s oil infrastructure, in August reaching a monthly record for strikes since the start of the war in 2022.
Saturday’s pause order followed a broad Russian overnight attack across Ukraine that killed at least five people and injured six others, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“They were deliberate, for the first time in a long while,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram of the strikes targeting airports in Kyiv and Boryspil. “Clearly, Russia’s strikes on the airports are a reaction to discussions and preparations concerning the possibility of the American side using an aircraft to arrive in Ukraine.”
The U.S. emissaries are scheduled to meet with Putin later on Saturday.