On 5 September, a meeting was held at the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin and special envoys of US President Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The talks took place against the backdrop of ongoing attacks on Ukrainian territory and the discussed terms of a "pause" in strikes on the capitals. The meeting became one of the key contacts in the peace process involving the American side.
Meeting at the Kremlin
According to Ukrainian and Russian media, the delegation of American negotiators arrived at the Russian leader's residence to discuss the progress of peace talks. The meeting began in a working format, with de-escalation and the terms for a ceasefire at the center of attention. Several sources confirmed the arrival of Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin, making the fact of the negotiations a stable element of the day's picture.
Putin's statement on strikes on Kyiv
During the conversation, Putin told the special envoys that strikes on Kyiv had allegedly not been carried out since midnight of the current day. This statement was made in the context of the discussed agreement to refrain from strikes on the two capitals during the negotiations involving the American side and was aimed at demonstrating the Russian side's "compliance with the pause."
Contradictory data
There is a notable gap between Putin's words and the factual picture of the day. Despite the declared "pause" regarding Kyiv itself, on 5 September air-raid alerts sounded repeatedly in the capital and the region due to the threat of attack drones — according to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Telegram channel, the threat to the capital was recorded as early as 00:09. Even without direct hits, the city remained under threat. Meanwhile, Kyiv Oblast came under a massive attack: according to the Regional Military Administration, people were killed in Bucha district, and damage was recorded at 28 facilities across five districts of the region. Thus, the claim that there had been no strikes on Kyiv since midnight does not match what was happening in the region and in the capital's airspace, and requires cautious interpretation.
Agreement on a pause for the capitals
From 6 September, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the parties, by mutual agreement with Russia, are refraining from strikes on Kyiv and Moscow during the negotiations involving the American side. It is important that this agreement covers only the two capitals and does not extend to Kyiv Oblast or other regions, which explains why attacks on the regions continue even amid a formal "peace" for the cities.
Bottom line: the meeting confirmed the fact of direct contacts between Putin and the American envoys, however, the statement about a "clean" Kyiv is not supported by data on the alerts and attacks on the region. The gap between rhetoric and facts makes Putin's key statement controversial and subject to verification as additional data becomes available.
