US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow and Kyiv alongside Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, said the sides had moved forward in agreeing on a schedule for additional trilateral meetings involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Witkoff posted on X that Trump is 'working hard to stop the bloodshed and achieve a lasting peace'. The US delegation included representatives of the National Security Council, State Department and Treasury Department; in Kyiv, national security advisers from Britain, Germany and France also joined.
French newspaper Le Monde, citing a statement from an Elysee Palace official, reported that American diplomats told European allies the Kremlin would be ready for talks after the State Duma elections, due in two weeks. 'The Americans told us that after the Duma elections there will be a need to discuss the new state of affairs with Russia, and in this context we need to prepare for a new beginning of negotiations,' the Elysee official said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the trip 'a small step toward peace'. He said Moscow does not rule out resuming trilateral talks, but 'it is premature to speak about the venue and exact timing'.
In Kyiv, Witkoff expressed hope that trilateral talks would be announced in the near future. Kushner noted the format had already been tried earlier this year: 'Steve and I believe the trilateral format is more useful because all sides communicate with each other.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed with that assessment but added that complex issues such as territorial questions can only be resolved at the level of leaders. The war could continue through the winter, he said.
Before the visit, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a temporary ceasefire, in practice meaning a halt to strikes on Moscow and Kyiv respectively. Details of the peace initiatives have not been officially published.
Analysts at the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note that the Kremlin still does not want to make substantial compromises: Putin's conditions include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the entire territory of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, demilitarization and 'denazification' of Ukraine, as well as its neutrality and refusal to join NATO.