Vladimir Putin ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv, starting at midnight. Not on Ukraine - on Kyiv. The Kremlin announced it literally after the American delegation walked into the building.

Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for talks on ending the war. In the afternoon they were in the Kremlin. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the halt applies only to the capital and is "connected to the preparation and holding of the Americans' contacts in Kyiv".

In other words: the sky above Kyiv is safe to the extent that there are Americans in the city. The rest of Ukraine carries on as it did yesterday.

The greeting that says more than the deal

Welcoming his guests, Putin said: "The situation we have to consider today is of course not simple. But before we begin, I want to ask you to pass on my best wishes and words of gratitude to the President of the United States, Mr Trump."

That is a man who knows exactly who he is speaking to and through whom. Best wishes before the talks even start - that is protocol learned in the KGB, not at a diplomatic academy.

Zelensky: we are ready, but we have a condition too

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken with Witkoff and Kushner and that Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Moscow until Monday - on condition that the Russians do the same for Kyiv. "We are ready for a substantive conversation," he added.

Earlier, Zelensky reported that Russian missiles had hit two airports near Kyiv, including Boryspil, which once handled international flights. "Clearly these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the talks and the preparations connected to the possibility of the American side arriving in Ukraine by plane," he said.

Since the start of the war, foreign leaders have travelled to Kyiv by train from Poland. Striking the runways is not a random target - it is a message about who sets the rules of access.

The Kremlin has already lowered expectations

At the White House, Trump called Witkoff and Kushner "excellent negotiators" and said they carry a proposal for ending the war, with a "good chance that we will get it done". The Kremlin was far more sparing: "Yesterday Trump himself said these are not new ideas. That was the American president's statement," Peskov noted.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was blunter still: the American administration must take account of the situation on the ground, where things are changing, but not in Kyiv's favour.

That is a negotiating position stated without a single diplomatic wrapper - we are winning, you adjust.

Three days of peace as a bargaining chip

The mission is taking place amid near-continuous missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital, including a direct hit on the headquarters of Ukraine's Security Service. Zelensky admitted that a serious shortage of interceptor missiles has left Ukraine vulnerable to ballistic strikes.

Three days without strikes on one city is not a ceasefire. It is a demonstration that the fire can be switched off and on at will - which is greater power than the fire itself. The Balkans recognise this logic: when someone shows you they can leave you in peace, they are showing you the decision is theirs, not yours.