Kushner and Witkoff Reportedly Set for First-Ever Trip to Kyiv as Kremlin Calls Trilateral Summit Pointless

The envoys who never went to Kyiv

Since Moscow and Kyiv held their last direct negotiating round in Geneva on Feb. 17-18, the U.S.-brokered peace process has been effectively frozen. President Volodymyr Zelensky says that's about to change.

In a Thursday video address, Zelensky said preliminary dates have been set for U.S. negotiators to visit both Kyiv and Moscow "in the coming days," according to The Independent and The Guardian. "It is very important that America continues to be active," he said.

A report by RT, cited by Crypto Briefing, named the visiting envoys as Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. If accurate, it would mark the first time either man has set foot in Kyiv since the Trump administration's mediation effort began. Anadolu Agency reported that both have made repeated trips to Moscow, most recently a Jan. 22 meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, but neither has visited the Ukrainian capital.

The RT sourcing on the exact travelers deserves caution. Crypto Briefing itself flagged that "the credibility of the report from RT may warrant caution," and neither the White House nor Russian officials have confirmed names or dates as of this reporting.

Ratcliffe's secret Moscow trip and a summit idea Russia just killed

The renewed push traces back to Aug. 25, when CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a covert visit to Moscow, meeting Russian intelligence chiefs Sergey Naryshkin and Alexander Bortnikov, according to Axios. Two sources briefed on the matter told Axios that Ratcliffe floated the idea of a trilateral summit between Trump, Putin and Zelensky, and delivered what The New York Times described as a "bleak assessment" of Russia's military and economic position, urging Moscow to make a deal before things get worse. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump sent Ratcliffe without informing some of his own closest aides and military commanders beforehand.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shut the idea down on Monday, Aug. 31, telling reporters there is "absolutely no point" in a three-way meeting unless it's to formally sign an already-completed deal, according to the Kyiv Post. Trump first floated a trilateral summit back in August 2025, saying preparations were underway. More than a year later, it still hasn't happened.

Treasury talks Kyiv didn't know about

On the same day Peskov made his comments, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Miami, Florida, Fox Business reported, as relayed by the Kyiv Independent. It was Siluanov's first in-person appearance at a G20 gathering since Russia's 2022 invasion.

The meeting wasn't announced in advance. A Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv "does not know anything about this meeting." The stated topic was a Washington-backed 28-point peace plan, though it's unclear whether that's the same plan or an updated version.

That original 28-point framework, brokered last November by Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, was widely seen as demanding Ukrainian surrender, according to the Kyiv Independent. It was later trimmed to 20 points after talks with Ukrainian and Western officials, and the Kremlin rejected the revised version anyway. Zelensky has separately said Ukraine, the U.S. and European partners drafted their own one-page plan including a ceasefire and a "free economic zone" in the Donbas. Moscow has rejected both the ceasefire and any buffer-zone arrangement, demanding Ukraine cede the entire region.

If Washington is negotiating economic and financial terms with Moscow's own Treasury without looping in Kyiv, that raises questions about whether Ukraine is being sidelined in talks over its own territory. Trump officials would likely counter that direct financial-track engagement with Russia is a standard diplomatic tool distinct from territorial negotiations, and that Kyiv remains central to any actual settlement. Neither the Treasury Department nor the White House has publicly detailed what commitments, if any, came out of the Bessent-Siluanov meeting.

Mixed signals on the ground

Putin told an economic forum on Thursday there is "a chance" of an agreement, saying the U.S. and China are both ready to support a settlement, according to The Guardian. But Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov's deputy, Pavlo Palisa, said Putin has separately ordered Russia's military to prepare offensive scenarios toward Kyiv and Chernihiv, per the Kyiv Post. Such preparation suggests the posture of a leader not in a rush to sign.

The fighting hasn't paused for diplomacy. Russian drones struck a Coca-Cola bottling plant near Brovary outside Kyiv on Thursday, with no injuries reported, Zelensky said. A Ukrainian strike the same day killed four people, including two medical personnel, in Russia's Belgorod region, according to regional officials cited by The Guardian.

Trump, for his part, told GB News he wants an end to "the losses suffered by both sides," while separately saying European allies should repay the U.S. for prior military aid and signaling a temporary pause on new U.S. weapons sales to allies. Sales would "soon again begin," he said. On the Polymarket prediction platform, the odds of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire by Dec. 31, 2026 stood at 18.5% as of Sept. 4, barely moved from 18% the day before, according to Crypto Briefing. Whether Kushner and Witkoff's trip actually happens, and whether it produces anything Moscow hasn't already rejected twice, remains the open question.