Putin orders 72-hour ceasefire in Kiev, Zelensky vows reciprocity, as Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour ceasefire over Kiev on Saturday, coinciding with the arrival in Moscow of U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are seeking to revive the stalled negotiations to put an end to the war in Ukraine.

"Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kiev for three days, starting at midnight today," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state-run Tass news agency. According to a report by CNN, the suspension applies exclusively to the Ukrainian capital and not to the rest of the country.

Furthermore, according to Peskov, the ceasefire is related to the preparation and implementation of contacts with the Americans.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced on Friday that Ukraine would suspend its own attacks during the envoys' visit and urged Moscow to do the same. After the Russian measure was confirmed, Zelensky commented on his expectations for the meeting: "I have just spoken with the U.S. President’s envoys. They have already begun working with the Russian side today. From the moment of this conversation, we are ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process. 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."

The Ukrainian president himself linked the Russian attacks of the past day to the diplomatic visit. According to reports by Politico, two airports near Kiev, including Boryspil, were targeted by Russian missiles hours before the announcement of the truce. "Evidently, these Russian strikes on airports are a reaction to discussions and preparations regarding the possibility of the American side using an aircraft to arrive in Ukraine," Zelensky said.

Witkoff and Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, arrived in Moscow on Saturday and were met at the airport by Russian Special Representative Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photos of the meeting with the message: "Welcome to Moscow, peacemakers." Both officials will meet with Putin later that same day, and are scheduled to travel to Kiev on Sunday—a city they have never visited before as part of this diplomatic mission. Their last visit to Moscow took place in January, when they met with Putin at the Kremlin.

Before the envoys' departure, Trump described them to reporters in the Oval Office as "great negotiators" and said they were "bringing with them a proposal to end the war." However, Peskov tempered expectations by noting that, for the time being, "no talk of new ideas" to end the conflict.

The diplomatic push by Washington, which has been trying to end the war for nearly five years, had lost momentum in recent months, as U.S. attention focused on the conflict with Iran. Meanwhile, attacks between the two sides continued unabated in the rest of the country. According to a report by Breitbart, citing Ukrainian emergency services, Russian forces attacked a shopping center in the southern region of Mykolaiv overnight, wounding a 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl. Ukraine, for its part, wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in the Russian border region of Belgorod.