Two of President Trump's top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are traveling to Moscow and Kyiv this weekend to revive peace talks and end the four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine. Mr. Witkoff, the president's special envoy, and Mr. Kushner, his son-in-law and frequent key negotiator, are expected to see President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Saturday. Then they will travel to Kyiv, a first for the two envoys, to see President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Negotiations over the trip have gone on for weeks, with the United States insisting that Ukrainians temporarily cease drone attacks on Moscow and energy facilities while the envoys are in Russia, and that Russians similarly stop missile attacks on Kyiv. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. It is unclear whether the Americans are bringing new proposals or pushing the two presidents to close the gap on remaining issues, including who will ultimately control the Donbas.

While Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner have traveled to Moscow several times, they have not been to Kyiv, despite multiple official invitations. Two weeks ago CIA director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart. Mr. Witkoff has seen Mr. Putin more than a half-dozen times. The session comes more than a year after Mr. Trump met Mr. Putin in Alaska, the administration's highest-level effort to end the war.

President Trump has been eager to bring Russia back into the fold, inviting Russia to participate in a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting last week in North Carolina, over the objections of European allies. Russia has been excluded from many diplomatic meetings since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The dynamic has changed, but it is far from clear that Mr. Putin is prepared to give ground on his territorial demands.

Some Ukrainian officials doubt the conditions will be ripe for a peace agreement until next spring because they expect the Russians will want to use the winter months to try to destroy more of their energy facilities.