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Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, the Kremlin said Saturday, as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPutin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today,\u201d presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia\u2019s Tass news agency. He said the decision was tied to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner’s planned visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Kyiv has said will take place on Sunday. <\/p>\n Peskov also confirmed that Kushner and Witkoff would meet Putin during their visit, but said there was \u201cno talk of new ideas\u201d to end the conflict. <\/p>\n The envoys’ trip comes as both sides escalate aerial attacks, some 4 1\/2 years after the Kremlin’s invasion<\/a> of its neighbor. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine would halt airstrikes during the envoys’ visit and urged Moscow to do the same.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s push to end the fighting, now in its fifth year, has lost momentum as U.S. attention has been focused for the past six months on its war with Iran.<\/a> The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, was in January, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They have never previously visited Kyiv.<\/p>\n The envoys were met at the airport in Moscow by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Tass reported. Dmitriev shared photos of him meeting the U.S. delegation as they disembarked, alongside the caption, \u201cWelcome to Moscow Peacemakers.\u201d<\/p>\n With peace efforts stalled, Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv and other cities with relentless bombardments recently stretching into daylight hours, taking advantage of Ukraine\u2019s shortage of air defensive systems.<\/p>\n On Friday, a Russian drone hit one of the most important government buildings in Kyiv \u2014 the headquarters of Ukraine\u2019s Security Service, known as the SBU, which is one of the agencies involved in carrying out deep-strike operations inside Russia.<\/p>\n The long-range strikes by Ukraine have hit Russian military facilities, oil refineries and e-commerce hubs, seeking to undermine the Kremlin\u2019s war effort and economy, as well as make ordinary citizens feel the consequences of the war.<\/p>\n The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified<\/a> as troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line. Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones<\/a>, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life<\/a> in Kyiv. <\/p>\n In a social media post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that Russia had carried out overnight strikes on Kyiv and Boryspil international airports, and linked the attack to the planned U.S. visit.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken note of this Russian move, and next week we will adjust our operation accordingly regarding Russian airspace, which has become dangerous because of our drones and missiles in the sky. Of course, there are and will be no threats to diplomacy from our side.\u201d <\/p>\n Russian attacks killed five people and wounded five more at an industrial facility in Ukraine\u2019s southern Dnipropetrovsk region, local military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said. He described those killed as employees at the site. \u201cA locksmith, an electrician, a plumber and a machinist. People of peaceful professions. They were simply working their shift. They were doing their job when enemy missiles cut off their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A 62-year-old man was wounded and several homes and an apartment building were damaged in a separate attack on the region\u2019s Nikopol district, Hanzha said.<\/p>\n In a statement Saturday, Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defense said it had carried out strikes on two metallurgical plants in the region, describing them as \u201cmajor suppliers of metal products for Ukraine\u2019s military production.\u201d<\/p>\n A further two people were wounded in an overnight Russian attack on Ukraine\u2019s Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. In the Boryspil district, a fire sparked by a strike partially destroyed a nine-story residential building.<\/p>\n Russian forces also repeatedly struck a shopping center in the southern Mykolaiv region with drones overnight, damaging retail premises and sparking fires, Ukraine\u2019s state emergency services said. A 72-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were hurt.<\/p>\n Emergency crews responding to the incident were repeatedly forced to withdraw to safety because of the threat of further strikes, returning whenever conditions allowed, the emergency services said.<\/p>\n Russia launched ballistic missiles from its Rostov and Voronezh regions and deployed 167 attack drones overnight, Ukraine\u2019s air force said. The drones included Shahed-type aircraft \u2014 around half of them jet-powered \u2014 as well as Geran and decoy drones. Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 128 drones, according to the air force.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Ukrainian attacks wounded three people, including a 14-year-old girl, in Russia\u2019s border region of Belgorod, local officials said.<\/p>\n In a statement, Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defense said that its forces had shot down 53 Ukrainian drones overnight.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n