Russia and Ukraine announced a pause in strikes on capitals. Follows the route of Trump's envoys, not the front line

American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed on Saturday at Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 11:52 Central European Time. By evening, both warring sides announced a time-limited pause in air strikes on the capitals: Ukraine, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, will refrain from attacks on Moscow until Monday, Russia, according to the Kremlin, will not strike Kyiv for three days from midnight. This pause does not affect a single kilometer of the front line. It concerns two cities and the safety of the American delegation's route. Der Standard ↗ Kyiv Independent ↗

A ceasefire that looks more like a flight permit

Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civilian traffic for over four and a half years. Witkoff and Kushner plan to travel to Kyiv on Sunday and according to German Tagesschau it is expected they will fly in a private aircraft — the mode of travel was not confirmed by evening. That is why Zelensky proposed a pause in strikes. According to him, Ukraine will not disrupt Russian airspace with its strikes for three days and expects Russia to do the same over Kyiv. Tagesschau cites his promise as a commitment to ensure normal Russian airspace operations. Tagesschau ↗

The Ukrainian president formulated it with the precision of a flight plan. "From now until the end of Saturday, as well as Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is ready to refrain from attacks on Moscow and we expect the Russians to do the same for Kyiv," he said on Telegram. The Russian side responded hours after the delegation arrived: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the commander-in-chief issued an order not to strike Kyiv for three days from midnight. Digi24 ↗ CBS News ↗

The geography of that agreement is precisely as narrow as it sounds. It does not concern Kharkiv, Dnipro or Pokrovsk, it does not concern the front and does not concern drones over other Russian cities. It concerns two capitals in which two Americans will spend the weekend. El Confidencial ↗

According to sources, Witkoff was wary of traveling to Kyiv

The day before departure, the Kyiv Independent reported that a visit to the Ukrainian capital was hanging by a thread, and the text was picked up by Czech Novinky. According to the newspaper's sources, Russians told Witkoff that traveling to Kyiv was dangerous. "The Russians don't want them to come to Kyiv, and Witkoff is always sensitive to Russian moods," said one source. To travel by train, as European leaders have done for years, the American envoy refused as inconvenient. Novinky.cz ↗

It should be noted that for both men this will be their first visit to Kyiv since Trump took office with a promise to end the war. To Moscow, however, both have traveled repeatedly. Der Standard ↗

Russians shot until the last moment

Ukrainian media reported on unilateral Ukrainian ceasefire on Thursday evening with reference to sources in the army — it was supposed to apply from September 5 to 8. Moscow rejected it. What exactly was to apply was unclear even on the Ukrainian side: Latvian public radio reported in the morning that units on the front did not receive an order to cease fire, and the Ukrainian armed forces later clarified that fighting continues because Russia did not stop its aggression. According to them, a ceasefire cannot be unilateral or asymmetrical. Kyiv Independent ↗ LSM ↗

What followed is a fairly precise picture of how much such a statement is worth. Shortly after 2 a.m., a Russian attack hit Kyiv and its surroundings, with two women injured in Boryspil. In Kamiansky in Dnipropetrovsk region, an early morning Russian attack killed five people and wounded five more, according to the regional governor. In twenty-four hours, the Ukrainian side attributed seven dead and fifty-one wounded to Russian attacks. Kyiv Independent ↗ ČT24 ↗

The day before, a Russian drone hit SBU headquarters in central Kyiv and injured at least twelve people. According to Zelensky, it aimed at the office of the incumbent head of the service, Major General Oleksandr Poklade, and was the first strike on this building since the beginning of the full invasion. This claim comes from the Ukrainian side and has not been independently verified. CBS News ↗

The attack also has a Slovak dimension. The building stands on Volodymyrska Street near the consular section of the Slovak embassy and Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár ordered the summons of the Russian ambassador. ta3 ↗

Read also: Russian drone hits SBU headquarters in central Kyiv

A few hours before the Kremlin announced the pause, Russian forces shelled both Kyiv airports, Zhuliany and Boryspil. Zelensky called it a deliberate step — according to him it was a reaction to preparations for the American arrival and an attempt to create uncertainty before it. "Deliberately, for the first time in a long time," he said. Het Laatste Nieuws ↗ Kyiv Independent ↗

A pattern that repeats for the third time

That shooting stops when an American is in the city is not a new experience. When last year the then-special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg came to Kyiv, massive attacks stopped for two nights. Zelensky commented on it at the time according to Ukrainian Truth with words that the Russians are afraid of the United States, and added that people were already joking whether they should give the general a Ukrainian passport and let him stay here. Novinky.cz ↗

Exactly the same repeated eleven days ago when CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew unannounced to Moscow — to the same Vnukovo airport. Washington then asked Kyiv to suspend strikes on Russian territory for the duration of the mission, and Ukraine did so. The difference from today is that at that time no one officially talked about the pause and no one called it a ceasefire.

The third repetition is thus the first to be public, bilateral, and have a deadline. That is a change — but it is a change in format, not in substance. Weapons are to fall silent over two cities because an aircraft is landing there, not because anyone agreed to end the war.

Read also: CIA chief was in Moscow according to sources. Last time his predecessor flew there three months before the invasion

What is on the table and what is not

Trump said on Friday that he is sending envoys with an idea for peace. "We have an idea for peace. I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They have 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 will do it," declared before reporters. The content of the proposal was not disclosed by him or anyone else. CBS News ↗

The Kremlin, meanwhile, made clear the day before that its position had not changed. Ukraine must hand over the Donbas including parts that Russian forces do not fully control, according to Moscow. Austrian Die Presse recalls that Witkoff has met with Putin at least six times, and that after the war with Iran erupted in late February, the negotiating channel between Moscow and Washington practically froze. When a reporter asked what was preventing a deal, Trump answered that Putin and Zelensky hate each other. Die Presse ↗

A precedent from December 2, 2025, however, speaks to how such a meeting can end. Witkoff and Kushner spent five hours with Putin then, the Russian side called the conversation constructive and it led to no breakthrough. CBS News ↗

Limits of this perspective

Austrian commentator Christian Ultsch offers a sober reading of the entire day: both sides want to keep Trump in a good mood and are preparing the ground in advance so they can blame the other for the likely failure. Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister and ex-ambassador to Britain Vadym Prystajko is similarly skeptical — according to him there is not much to negotiate about at the moment while Russia insists on recognition of annexed territories, and Moscow can play for time and wait for another American administration. Die Presse ↗ Tagesschau ↗

Some of the physical trace of the route comes from Russian state agency TASS, which reported on the type of aircraft and the stopover in Helsinki. Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat states this explicitly as a TASS claim and adds that the Helsinki stopover is also independently confirmed by Flightradar24 data. We cite Russian state media here as a mirror of official positions, not as an independent source. Ilta-Sanomat ↗

Casualty figures and scope of attacks come from Ukrainian authorities and have not been independently verified. The Kremlin did not announce the time of the meeting with Putin by evening and previous talks of this type took place late at night, so at the time of publication of this text it is not known what the parties told each other. And finally: a ceasefire that applies only over two cities and only for three days is not a step toward peace until it is proven that something survives it. Tagesschau ↗

Illustration photo: Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, March 2019. Photo: Moscow government press office (mos.ru), CC BY 4.0 license.

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