Putin Pauses Strikes On Ukraine As US Envoys Arrive. Hope Flickers.

The Kremlin said on Saturday President Vladimir Putin has ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, coinciding with the arrival of US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow in a bid to find a closure to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today," presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass news agency. Peskov acknowledged that the move was linked to the preparations for Witkoff and Kushner's planned visit to the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian officials have said the US envoys will visit Kyiv on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

Kushner and Witkoff would also meet Putin during their visit, Peskov said, but added there was "no talk of new ideas" to end the conflict.

The US envoys' trip comes amid an escalation in aerial attacks by both sides as the protracted conflict shows no signs of abating. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced a halt on airstrikes aimed at facilitating the envoys' visit on Friday. Zelenskyy had also urged Moscow to reciprocate the gesture.

Washington has been pushing to end the conflict, which is now in its fifth year. The conflict lost momentum after the US attention veered to its conflict with Iran in the Middle East, which began late in February.

Witkoff and Kushner, who is Trump's son-in-law, had visited Moscow in January. The envoys had met Putin in the Kremlin but they did not extend the visit to Kyiv.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the US envoys at the airport in Moscow, according to the Tass report. Dmitriev shared photos of the meeting with the caption, "Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers."

It is not clear if the envoys are to convey a message from Trump, as the US administration and Kremlin have not dropped any hints.

Russia had rececntly intensified its attacks on Ukraine.The AP report said Kyiv and other cities faced relentless overnight bombardments that began stretching into daylight hours recently. Moscow is apparently exploiting a reported shortage of air defensive systems in Ukraine.

On Friday, a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service, known as the SBU. The SBU has been instrumental in plotting deep-strike operations inside Russia devastating Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs.

The Ukrainian game plan was to undermine the Kremlin's war effort and economy and also drag the suffering to drawing rooms to spur resentment among ordinary citizens.

But the war's present flashpoint seemed unmoved with both sides struggling to make any progress along the 775-mile conflict front lines. Russia has recently relied on intensive air-raids in Kyiv and the brief pause in strikes would ignite hopes that peace may be in the works.