Russia-Ukraine pause strikes as US envoys push for Ukraine peace deal

Russia says it is pausing strikes on Kyiv for three days, following 10 days of attacks on the capital and surrounding region. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine will not target Moscow through Monday. The Kremlin links the 72-hour pause to the weekend visit of US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Moscow on Saturday with a new peace proposal and are expected in Kyiv on Sunday, their first-ever visit there. President Donald Trump says there is a good chance of ending the war.

In Moscow, the envoys are holding talks with President Vladimir Putin, though Russia's core demands remain unchanged: full control of the Donbas, including Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson; a permanent bar on Ukraine joining NATO; and a reduction in Ukraine's armed forces, all of which Kyiv rejects.

In Kyiv, officials call the envoys' visit a milestone but say it may prove more ceremonial than decisive. Ukraine has shown flexibility on peacetime troop numbers, but territorial issues remain a hard red line in the negotiations.

Al Jazeera's Yulia Shapovalova reports from Moscow and Audrey MacAlpine reports from Kyiv.

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