Trump envoys arrive in Kyiv for first Ukraine visit

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) welcomes US Special Envoys to their talks in Kyiv. [Gentya Savilon, AFP]

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Kyiv Sunday for their first visit to the Ukrainian capital, a day after holding talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on ending more than four years of war between the neighbours.

US President Donald Trump's business partner Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner had visited Moscow several times but had not held talks in Kyiv -- hit by deadly Russian strikes since 2022.

They are due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. An AFP reporter in Kyiv saw the American envoys arrive by train.

They are hoping to revive negotiations to end Europe's worst conflict since WWII, after a summer of escalation.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin on Saturday to "advance President Trump's agenda of peace in the Russia-Ukraine War," a White House official said in a statement to AFP.

"The two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks, and look forward to equally productive meetings tomorrow in Ukraine."

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "extremely frank", saying the Americans "put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement", but did not elaborate.

The Russian side told the Americans that Moscow was "confident" it could achieve its military goals of seizing the rest of eastern Ukraine, Ushakov added.

Both Russia and Ukraine have vowed not to strike each other's capitals for three days to allow for the negotiations to take place.

It was Kushner and Witkoff's eighth visit to Moscow during the war -- but it is their first in the Ukrainian capital, hit by deadly Russian strikes throughout the war.

Russia's TASS news agency reported early Sunday that Witkoff and Kushner had arrived in Rzeszow in Poland on their way to Kyiv.

Zelensky on Sunday said Ukraine was "ready for the conversation."

"Ukraine has always been and will remain constructive," the wartime leader said on social media ahead of their visit.

The country's airspace has been closed since Moscow launched the war in February 2022 and visiting leaders have been arriving by train.

For many Ukrainians, hopes of a breakthrough remain slim.

"At this point it doesn't give me any hope. There have already been too many negotiations," Yaroslav, a 29-year-old Kyiv resident, told AFP.