Russia and Ukraine have agreed to temporarily suspend strikes on each other’s capitals as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv in an effort to revive stalled negotiations over the war.
The pause was announced on Saturday as the two sides continued trading attacks elsewhere, highlighting the fragility of diplomatic efforts to halt a conflict that has entered its fifth year.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had ordered a three-day suspension of attacks on Kyiv beginning at midnight.
According to Peskov, the decision was connected to the planned visit of Witkoff and Kushner to the Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv has said the two US envoys are expected to arrive in Ukraine on Sunday.
Peskov also confirmed that the American delegation would meet Putin in Moscow, although he played down expectations of a major breakthrough.
He said the discussions were not expected to involve any new proposals for ending the war.
Ukraine offers reciprocal pause
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said Kyiv was prepared to halt attacks on Moscow through Monday, provided Russia respected a similar arrangement for Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said he had spoken with the US delegation after its arrival in Moscow.
Ukraine, he said, was prepared to refrain from targeting the Russian capital from Saturday through Monday and expected Moscow to reciprocate by suspending strikes on Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader had earlier urged Russia to agree to a halt in aerial attacks, as the two countries intensified long-range drone and missile operations.
The temporary arrangement comes as Washington attempts to regain momentum in efforts to end the conflict.
US diplomatic engagement had slowed in recent months as Washington focused heavily on its war with Iran.
The Moscow trip is the first known visit to the Russian capital by Witkoff and Kushner since January, when they met Putin at the Kremlin. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Witkoff have not previously visited Kyiv.
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev met the American delegation at Moscow airport, according to Russian media. Dmitriev later shared photographs of the meeting and welcomed the envoys as “peacemakers”.
Aerial attacks intensify despite diplomacy
The diplomatic activity has unfolded against a backdrop of increasingly heavy aerial attacks by both Russia and Ukraine.
Russia has recently intensified bombardments of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, with attacks sometimes extending into daylight hours as Ukraine struggles with shortages of air-defence systems.
On Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, in Kyiv.
The agency has played a key role in Ukraine’s long-range operations against targets inside Russia.
Ukraine has increasingly used drones and missiles to strike Russian military facilities, oil infrastructure and commercial sites linked to the country’s war economy.
Kyiv says the attacks are intended to weaken Russia’s ability to sustain the war while bringing its consequences closer to Russian territory.
Zelenskyy said Russia launched further attacks overnight on Kyiv and Boryspil airport and suggested the timing was linked to preparations for the US delegation’s visit.
He said Kyiv had taken note of the Russian actions and would adjust its own operations next week while insisting that Ukraine would not threaten diplomatic efforts.
Deadly attacks reported in Dnipropetrovsk
Russian strikes also caused casualties in other parts of Ukraine.
Authorities in the Dnipropetrovsk region said five people were killed and another five injured when an industrial facility was attacked.
Regional military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said those killed were workers carrying out their normal duties at the site.
A separate attack in the Nikopol district injured a 62-year-old man and damaged residential buildings, authorities said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had targeted two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as important suppliers of metal products used by Ukraine’s military industry.
In the Kyiv region, two people were reported injured during overnight attacks.
Authorities said a strike in the Boryspil district triggered a fire that partially destroyed a nine-storey residential building.
Shopping centre hit in Mykolaiv region
Russian drones also repeatedly targeted a shopping centre in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region overnight, damaging businesses and causing fires.
A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were injured.
Ukraine’s emergency services said rescue teams responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw because of the threat of additional strikes.
Emergency workers returned to the scene whenever conditions permitted, the authorities said.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched ballistic missiles from the Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight.
The drones included Shahed-type aircraft, jet-powered drones, Geran drones and decoy aircraft, according to the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine said its air defences shot down or electronically suppressed 128 of the drones.
Drone attacks continue inside Russia
Russia also reported casualties from Ukrainian attacks.
Officials in the Belgorod border region said three people, including a 14-year-old girl, were injured in Ukrainian drone strikes.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces intercepted or destroyed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The continued attacks underline the limited nature of the proposed pause around Moscow and Kyiv.
While the two governments have agreed, at least temporarily, to reduce the immediate threat to their capitals during the US diplomatic mission, military operations across the wider battlefield remain active.
The meetings involving Putin, Zelenskyy’s government and the US envoys are expected to test whether the narrow agreement can create enough space for broader negotiations to resume or whether the pause will prove to be only a brief interruption in the fighting.
