Russia and Ukraine Saturday agreed to halt aerial strikes on each other's capitals for three days during U.S. envoys' visits to the two countries in the latest push to negotiate an end to a four-and-a-half-year war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces not to strike Kiev for three days beginning "at midnight today," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday as Putin met with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in Moscow later in the evening.
Following a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine was also prepared to refrain from strikes on Moscow, effective immediately through Sept. 7.
Zelensky added that the plan for diplomatic meetings in Kiev on Sept. 6 had been approved and that Ukraine was awaiting Witkoff and Kushner for what he called a "substantive conversation."
Witkoff and Kushner landed in Moscow earlier on Sept. 5 and are expected to travel to Kiev on Sept. 6.
Russia, Ukraine agree to halt strikes during U.S. envoys' visits
The U.S. Department of State said Saturday it had updated travel advisories for more than a dozen Middle East countries, urging Americans to reconsider travel to the region and prepare for sudden disruptions amid escalating attacks by Yemen's Houthi group.
Among those covered are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. Several U.S. embassies have issued security alerts of their own in recent days, citing the rising tensions.
The move came as the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition traded heavy fire the same day.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement that the group launched seven missile and drone attacks targeting airports, oil facilities and a military base in the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Yanbu, Rabigh, Dammam, Najran and Khamis Mushait.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition announced it had intercepted and destroyed several missiles fired toward Riyadh, Taif and Yanbu, as well as a drone in the Eastern Province.
The Houthis said Saturday's strikes came in response to what they described as 100 Saudi airstrikes over the previous 24 hours on Houthi-held areas of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Mocha in the southwestern province of Taiz.
In a separate statement, Sarea said Houthi forces had also targeted what he called Saudi-backed "mobilizations" at Al-Nasr camp and a naval military base in the southern port city of Aden, where Yemen's government is based.
U.S. updates travel advisories for Middle East countries amid Houthi threats
