Russian invasion Negotiations

Sources: Putin gave US envoy the cold hand

On the surface, all three parties speak positively about the US negotiators' visit to Moscow and Kyiv this weekend, and today both the Kremlin and the US have opened up for new trilateral talks.

But Vladimir Putin is as determined as before to escalate the war against Ukraine, American and Ukrainian sources tell the Kyiv Independent.

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff came to Moscow with a new peace proposal and a "genuine will" to find ways forward, according to the sources. Among other things, they proposed a pause in airstrikes, either against energy facilities or altogether, but were rejected.

- Putin still wants to crush us this winter and will not agree to anything, says a Ukrainian source.

The fact that Kushner and Witkoff traveled on to Kyiv is also said to have angered the Russians. The Ukrainians had arranged flights, but in the end they took a train to the capital due to Russian airstrikes near the airport.

Zelenskyj: Putin may want to give Trump a victory

Even if Vladimir Putin does not want to de-escalate the war this winter, Donald Trump can pressure him to do so, Volodymyr Zelenskyj says in an interview with Axios.

– My feeling is that Putin needs Trump. He does not want to upset him, he says.

It is possible that Putin wants to give Trump a diplomatic victory before the mid-term elections in the US this autumn, believes the Ukrainian president.

According to Zelenskyj, the US is now exploring possible paths to de-escalation this winter, in parallel with new negotiations on a peace treaty.