Witkoff and Kushner make first Kyiv visit for peace talks

• Sunday also marked the highest-level visit by a U.S. official to Ukraine since Trump started his second term.

Driving the news: U.S. and Russian officials offered positive assessments of Kushner and Witkoff's three-hour meeting with Putin on Saturday.

• "Kushner and Witkoff are making an effort, and we are making progress," a Russian official said.
• A White House official said Witkoff, Kushner and Putin discussed "plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks."
• Witkoff, Kushner and their team left Moscow on Saturday night, landed several hours later in Poland, and then traveled by land to Kyiv.

Zoom in: Zelensky discussed Ukrainian preparations for continuing the war through the winter, a source familiar with the meetings said. Kushner and Witkoff stressed they want a breakthrough before winter, the source said.

• Witkoff and Kushner met twice with Zelensky and his senior advisers. National security advisers from the U.K., France and Germany joined a third meeting.

• After the second meeting with Zelensky, Trump's envoys said they were "encouraged by the substantive discussion" and looked forward to making more progress.

What they're saying: A second source who participated in Sunday's talks said the meetings "went well" and that Kushner and Witkoff want to work with the parties on a "refreshed" peace proposal.

• "Things may move in a good direction if there's a follow-up by all parties involved," the source said.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.