Kyiv, 5 September 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Kyiv on Sunday.

Zelensky said in a video address that it had been agreed that Witkoff and Kushner would first visit Moscow before travelling to Kyiv on Sunday. 

There was initially no official confirmation of media reports that a ceasefire, at least on the Ukrainian side, could begin this weekend following an announcement by Zelensky.

Russia, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped. Asked when Witkoff and Kushner were expected in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS: "I will not announce anything. If these contacts take place, we will inform you."

US President Donald Trump confirmed at the White House that he had sent the two envoys, although he did not give specific dates. 

Trump said they would bring a proposal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, without giving further details.

"We sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done," Trump told reporters.

As with previous US mediation efforts, Trump voiced optimism that progress could be made, although no major breakthrough has so far been achieved.

Zelensky said Kyiv would allow normal operations in Russian airspace during the visit, as it had done during previous diplomatic trips by US representatives.

Ukraine would not carry out airstrikes during that period and Russia should do the same, he said.

However, air raid alerts sounded again overnight into Saturday and explosions were reported in the wider Kyiv area. 

The Kyiv Independent reported a wave of drone attacks in which a nine-storey residential building was damaged in the suburb of Boryspil. Two women were injured, the outlet reported, citing the governor of the region, Tymur Tkachenko. The information could not initially be independently verified.

Earlier reports had indicated that Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, and Kushner, the US president's son-in-law, were planning to travel to Moscow on Saturday and Kiev on Sunday.

Witkoff and Kushner are among the Trump administration officials tasked with efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.

The talks had largely stalled in recent months as Washington shifted its focus to the war with Iran.

The two US envoys have visited Moscow several times since 2025, but have not previously travelled to Kyiv as part of their mediation efforts.

Washington most recently acted as a mediator in direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Switzerland in February.