Putin orders 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, the Kremlin said on Saturday, as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Tass news agency. He said the decision was tied to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Kyiv has said will take place on Sunday. The envoys’ trip comes as both sides escalate aerial attacks, some 4.5 years after the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbour. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ visit and urged Moscow to do the same.

Washington’s push to end the fighting, now in its fifth year, has lost momentum as US attention has been focused for the last 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 Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have never previously visited Kyiv. The envoys were met at the airport by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting the US delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.”

With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with relentless bombardments recently stretching into daylight hours, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of air defensive systems.

On Friday, a Russian drone hit one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv -- the headquarters of Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU, which is one of the agencies involved in carrying out deep-strike operations inside Russia.

The long-range strikes by Ukraine have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs, seeking to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and economy, as well as make ordinary citizens feel the consequences of the war.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometre front line.

Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv.