Trump Sends Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv With "a Proposal to End the War" — Putin Halts Strikes on Kyiv for 72 Hours, and a Republican Senator Answers That "You Don't Get Any Credit for Kissing His Ass"
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and White House adviser Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday, September 5, 2026, for more than three hours followed by dinner — the first substantive US-Russia meeting since direct talks broke down roughly six months earlier. Announcing the trip from the Oval Office the day before, President Trump called the two men "great negotiators" and said "they're bringing with them a proposal to end the war." Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv so the envoys could travel on, and on Sunday, September 6, they met President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv — the first visit by either man to the Ukrainian capital — touring the bomb-damaged St. Sophia's Cathedral before talks. Kushner said afterward that he and Witkoff wanted to "go back to the trilateral format" with Russia and Ukraine at the same table; Witkoff said he was "confident that there'll be a good resolution here." The White House said the delegation also thanked Putin for releasing former US Marine Robert Gilman from Russian custody. The substance of the American proposal was not released. The sharpest on-record American criticism came from within the president's own party: Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), on NBC's "Meet the Press" the same Sunday, called Putin "a pirate" with "blood under his fingernails," said "you don't get any credit for kissing his ass," and argued the United States has Putin cornered and should press the advantage rather than trade concessions.
“I think both sides have expressed an interest in some limited ceasefire that involve grain and energy. Obviously, you know, that won't be easy either. [Rubio spoke after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the U.N.]”