Russia, Ukraine pause Kyiv-Moscow strikes as US envoys revive peace push

Moscow,UPDATED: Sep 5, 2026 21:48 IST

Russia and Ukraine said on Saturday that they would pause strikes on each other’s capitals for a limited period as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks aimed at reviving stalled efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a three-day halt on strikes against Kyiv from midnight, linking the move to Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to stop strikes on Moscow until Monday and expected Russia to do the same with regard to Kyiv.

Peskov told Tass, “Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today.” He also confirmed that Kushner and Witkoff would meet Putin during their Moscow visit on Saturday, but said there was “no talk of new ideas” to end the conflict.

Zelenskyy said he had spoken on Saturday afternoon with the US delegation after their arrival in Moscow. “From now through the end of Saturday, as well as on Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow, and we expect the Russians to do the same regarding Kyiv,” he said. He had urged Russia on Friday to respond with a similar halt in air strikes.

The envoys’ trip comes as both sides have stepped up aerial attacks some four-and-a-half years after the Kremlin invaded its neighbour. Washington’s efforts to end the war, now in its fifth year, have lost momentum as US attention has focused for the past six months on its war with Iran. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they met Putin at the Kremlin. They have not visited Kyiv before.

Tass said the US envoys were received at the airport in Moscow by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who later posted photographs of the meeting with the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.”

With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified attacks on Kyiv and other cities, including bombardments that have stretched into daylight hours as Ukraine faces shortages in air defence systems. On Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, in Kyiv. The agency is involved in deep-strike operations inside Russia. Ukrainian long-range strikes have targeted Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs in an effort to hit the Kremlin’s war effort and economy, and to make ordinary people feel the impact of the war.

The air war has grown sharper as troops on both sides have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometre front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, while air-raid sirens have become part of daily life in Kyiv. In a social media post, Zelenskyy said Russia had launched overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports and tied them to the planned US visit. “Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said.

He added, “We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”

In Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five others at an industrial facility, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. He said those killed were employees at the site. “A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” he said.

Hanzha also said a 62-year-old man was wounded and several homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the Nikopol district. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had struck two metallurgical plants in the region, calling them “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”

Two more people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region, regional administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. In the Boryspil district, a fire caused by the strike partially destroyed a nine-storey residential building. In the southern Mykolaiv region, drones repeatedly hit a shopping centre overnight, damaging shops and causing fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were injured. Emergency crews had to pull back repeatedly because of the risk of further strikes and returned when it was safe, the agency said.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired ballistic missiles from the Rostov and Voronezh regions and launched 167 attack drones overnight. It said the drones included Shahed-type aircraft, about half of them jet-powered, along with Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defences shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force. In Russia’s Belgorod border region, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, local officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

The temporary pause over Kyiv and Moscow comes against the backdrop of intensified strikes, casualties on both sides and renewed US diplomatic efforts, even as Moscow said there were no new ideas on the table to end the war.

With PTI Inputs

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