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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Friday he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n The move marks Washington\u2019s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe\u2019s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday.<\/p>\n US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, and then President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin declined to comment.<\/p>\n Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to gauge whether progress towards peace was possible.<\/p>\n Peace efforts have stalled due to Washington\u2019s war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of fighting.<\/p>\n \u201cI sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They\u2019ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we\u2019ll do it,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The US president would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested, but added: \u201cWe have an idea for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n It will be the first time that Trump\u2019s businessman friend Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.<\/p>\n Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have travelled repeatedly to Moscow in previous attempts at diplomacy.<\/p>\n Grinding war<\/strong><\/p>\n The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n Just hours before Trump\u2019s announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine\u2019s SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.<\/p>\n The strike, which Zelensky said was aimed at the office of the agency\u2019s acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.<\/p>\n Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys\u2019 trip.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire \u2014 without its own airstrikes \u2014 for the duration needed to conduct these talks,\u201d he said in his evening address.<\/p>\n Russia did not immediately comment on the proposal.<\/p>\n Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.<\/p>\n Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be \u201ccompletely unsafe\u201d and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.<\/p>\n Witkoff and Kusher\u2019s trip comes more than week after a rare visit to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe, who warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states, according to US media.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n