Vladimir Putin scurries across the room, dressed in his dark suit and burgundy tie, and shakes hands first with Steve Witkoff — who places a hand on his chest in a sign of respect and gratitude — and then with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. Then, as he sits down at the round table, the Russian president, without looking up, says immediately that “the situation we have to manage today is certainly not simple.” Not exactly favorable words for another trip by Trump envoys to Moscow in search of a peace deal with Ukraine.
They were met at the airport by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for negotiations, whom they had met frequently in Miami over the past two years. They dined at a posh downtown restaurant before heading to the Kremlin.
By announcing a three-day ceasefire, Putin made headlines despite the Russians having heavily attacked Ukraine the night before, particularly its two main airports. Zelensky said on X that this was Russia’s response “to preparations for the possibility of the Americans using a plane to fly into Ukraine” (all civilian airports have been closed since the Russian invasion in 2022).
But Witkoff and Kushner called the Ukrainian president from Moscow and asked him to join the ceasefire, so Zelensky wrote in X that he had no intention of obstructing diplomacy and would wait until next week for an air strike against Moscow. Putin did not accept a ceasefire longer than three days, as the Ukrainians had proposed.
While Witkoff has met with Putin eight times already, three of them with Kushner, Sunday’s visit will be their first to Kiev. It had been discussed for some time and according to some reports, the first stop was supposed to be Kiev, followed by Moscow, but the schedule was changed. According to the Kyiv Independent, Witkoff had “begun to express concern” about traveling to the Ukrainian capital because Russian sources had told him the trip would be dangerous.
Trump’s envoy has not confirmed this, but US media have reported American security concerns that led to the demand for a ceasefire. Sitting across the table last night, Witkoff told Putin: “First of all, thank you for your hospitality. When we retire, we will have incredible stories and memories. And you will be at the top of them.”
The visit to Kiev may be emotionally charged for Witkoff and Kushner, but many Ukrainians don’t expect it to significantly change their actions. And Putin appears to be preparing for an aggressive winter campaign aimed at subduing his enemies. On Friday, Trump said his two envoys would bring a “proposal to end the war.”
However, the content was not disclosed, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that it was a new plan: “There are no discussions of new ideas.” Peskov praised the “goodwill of the Americans” in the mediation, but added that Russia will continue to insist that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before there is any ceasefire, something Kiev refuses to do. Trump’s supporters are calling it a potentially historic trip, while critics say he wants to restart negotiations on Ukraine, suspended since the start of the Iran war, so that he can announce it to the UN General Assembly in late September./Corriere della Sera