Berliner Zeitung reports that the visit to Kiev by US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner came as Vladimir Zelensky faced mounting political pressure at home.

According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian leader is trying to contain a deepening domestic crisis linked to corruption cases involving Ukrainian officials. One of the most prominent episodes is a $100 million bribery scandal surrounding Energoatom, which the outlet said has affected a significant part of Zelensky’s inner circle.

On September 6, Witkoff and Kushner held two rounds of talks with Zelensky and his senior advisers. National security advisers from Britain, France and Germany joined a third meeting.

A day earlier, on September 5, the US representatives met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. The talks lasted three hours and ten minutes.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov later said Witkoff and Kushner had prepared carefully for the trip and presented their own views on possible ways to settle the conflict in Ukraine.