US envoys take Ukraine peace plan from Moscow to Kyiv as Europe watches

The White House said US representatives held detailed discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin on “concrete plans” for next steps aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, setting up a closely watched diplomatic push that will now move from Moscow to Kyiv.

According to a White House representative cited by AFP overnight on Sunday, September 6, US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, discussed specific proposals during their meeting with Putin. Those plans, the official said, are expected to be made public “in the coming weeks”.

The same Washington source said the US envoys were now looking ahead to talks in Ukraine, where they are due to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after their Moscow visit.

“The US envoys look forward to equally productive meetings that will take place in Ukraine,” the White House representative was quoted as saying.

For Britain and the European Union, the sequence of meetings will be scrutinised not only as a security development but also as a potential market event. The war has shaped European energy costs, defence spending assumptions, investor appetite for regional assets and the wider risk premium attached to the continent. Any sign that Washington is preparing to put a defined plan before Kyiv and Moscow is therefore likely to be watched closely in London, Brussels and other European capitals.

Plan moves from Moscow to Kyiv

Trump also announced a new diplomatic initiative to end the war, AFP reported, saying that Witkoff and Kushner had brought with them a plan “to end the war”. The US president did not specify whether the proposal would involve Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. He said only: “We have an idea for peace.”

After the Moscow visit, Kushner and Witkoff are due to arrive in Kyiv for their first negotiations there with Zelenskyy. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed that a Boeing C-32A carrying the US special envoys landed at 01:30 local time at the airport in Rzeszow, Poland. The aircraft had departed Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and headed west while avoiding Belarus, then crossed the airspace of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. From there, the envoys are expected to travel to the Ukrainian capital by train.

The route underlines the practical realities of wartime diplomacy in Europe. Poland has remained a key transit point for officials travelling to and from Ukraine, while the use of airspace over Baltic and EU member states highlights the extent to which any US-led diplomatic move is embedded in a broader European security framework.

London market reaction will depend on whether investors see the initiative as credible, durable and acceptable to Kyiv and its European backers. Sterling and UK-listed shares have been sensitive in recent years to shifts in global risk sentiment, energy expectations and defence policy, although the source reports did not provide market pricing or immediate trading moves tied to the talks. For UK businesses exposed to European energy costs, logistics routes and defence procurement, the substance of the US proposals will matter more than the diplomatic choreography.

Moscow describes talks as frank

Moscow said Putin had held “extremely frank” talks with the American delegation, during which the US side presented “several ideas” on how the war in Ukraine could be brought to an end. Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president, told Russian journalists that the American representatives had prepared thoroughly for the trip.

“They not only expressed interest in ending hostilities as quickly as possible, but also presented several ideas on possible paths to a solution,” Ushakov said.

Interfax quoted Ushakov as saying that, overall, the talks were timely and useful for both sides. He added that Putin had confirmed his readiness to continue joint work with the Americans in search of political and diplomatic outcomes.

According to RBC, the Russian side also gave the Americans its assessments of the course of military operations in Ukraine. Those assessments noted successes by the Russian army and expressed “confidence in achieving the stated goals”. The report said Trump’s special envoys promised to use that information during negotiations in Kyiv.

That element will be particularly sensitive for European governments. The UK and EU have repeatedly had to balance support for Ukraine with the economic strains of prolonged conflict, including pressure on public finances, energy security planning and defence industrial capacity. Any US proposal that appears to absorb Russian battlefield claims into a negotiating framework would be examined carefully by Kyiv’s allies.

Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation the previous day with the US presidential envoys after they arrived in Russia. He also announced that Ukraine was ready to halt strikes on Moscow for the next three days. In a social media statement, Zelenskyy said the plan for diplomatic measures in Kyiv involving the American team had been approved.

“We are waiting for Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and are ready for a substantive conversation,” Zelenskyy said.

The coming Kyiv meetings will determine whether the ideas discussed in Moscow can move beyond preliminary diplomacy. For European policymakers and investors, the key questions remain unresolved: whether the plan protects Ukrainian sovereignty, whether Russia is prepared to accept a political settlement, and whether the United States can align its initiative with the interests of Britain, the EU and Ukraine’s wider support coalition.