Kyiv gets a day of quiet as US envoys visit without diplomatic gains

The visit of US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv yielded no diplomatic breakthrough, but it gave the Ukrainian capital its first full day without an air raid alarm in months. The Sunday visit, the first for both envoys to Kyiv, was marked by irony and low expectations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky jokingly thanked them for giving citizens a respite from near-daily Russian missile and drone attacks, while a Ukrainian official gifted them "Kyiv Regime" t-shirts mocking Russian propaganda. Despite the calm, Kyiv officials widely expect the war to last until at least mid-2027. The US envoys, who had previously visited Moscow, offered no progress on territorial disputes, though Ukraine hopes for future talks on Patriot missile production.