Putin orders 72-hour pause in Kyiv strikes as Ukraine agrees to halt attacks on Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, the Kremlin said Saturday, with Ukraine saying it would reciprocate by refraining from attacks on Moscow as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived for talks aimed at reviving stalled efforts to end the war.

“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.

Peskov also confirmed that Kushner and Witkoff would meet Putin during their visit, but said there was “no talk of new ideas” to end the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said later Saturday that he had spoken with the US envoys and that Kyiv was prepared to reciprocate by halting strikes on Moscow while the diplomatic talks were underway.

“From the moment of this conversation, we are ready to observe a ceasefire in airstrikes against the cities involved in the negotiation process,” Zelensky wrote on X. “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.”

Zelensky said plans for Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Kyiv on Sunday had been approved and that Ukrainian officials were awaiting their arrival for what he described as a “substantive conversation.” He said the two US envoys had already begun working with the Russian side in Moscow.

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…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 5, 2026

The envoys’ trip comes as both sides escalate aerial attacks, some four and a half years after the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbor. Zelensky had already said 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 past six months on its war with Iran. The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, was in January, when they met Putin in the Kremlin. They have never previously visited Kyiv.

The envoys were met at the airport in Moscow 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 defense systems.

Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers @SteveWitkoff and @jaredkushner! ????️https://t.co/RAQt2CebVh pic.twitter.com/nrzs3mGnGw

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) September 5, 2026

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.

Zelensky links Russian strikes to envoys’ visit

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) 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.

In a social media post on Saturday, Zelensky said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, and linked the attack to the planned US visit.

“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,” he said.

Last night, the Russians struck a civilian enterprise in Kamianske, in the Dnipro region, killing four people and injuring five others. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Ordinary residential buildings were damaged in many regions – in Kherson, Boryspil, and the… pic.twitter.com/e9W8OvFA2Q

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 5, 2026

“We have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.”

Strikes kill 5 at Ukrainian industrial site

Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Ukraine’s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. He described those killed as employees at the site. “A locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,” he said.

A 62-year-old man was wounded, and several homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the region’s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.

In a statement Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as “major suppliers of metal products for Ukraine’s military production.”

A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building.

Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine’s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt.

Emergency crews responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.

Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft — around half of them jet-powered — as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.

In a statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this article