US envoys visit Kyiv after Moscow talks, but no breakthrough announced

Why it matters

The visit marked the first trip to Ukraine by the Trump-era negotiating team after repeated US contacts with Moscow. The talks introduced closer US–Ukraine coordination with France, Germany and the UK, but they also exposed a wide gap between Washington’s claim of substantial progress and assessments that Russia remains unwilling to make substantive compromises. The coming winter, with expected attacks on energy infrastructure, is a central focus of the diplomatic effort.

What happened

On September 5, Witkoff and Kushner met Putin in Moscow for more than three hours. They then traveled to Kyiv, where they met Zelensky on Sofiyska Square and held two bilateral rounds with the US delegation and one multilateral round joined by national security advisers from France, Germany and the UK. The discussions covered possible parameters for ending the war, security guarantees, economic support, air-defence needs, energy infrastructure and a winter assistance package.

Witkoff later said the meetings produced substantial progress, including on planning further trilateral talks, and said the United States wanted to bring the sides closer together. The Kremlin said Russia did not rule out the trilateral format but avoided confirming substantive movement and said the timing and venue were not yet known. Zelensky said the American envoys conveyed that Russia was ready to negotiate, while also expressing skepticism based on Russia’s battlefield actions and continued attacks.

No concrete breakthrough was announced. Russia’s stated demands remained maximalist, according to reporting on the meeting and an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

The Kyiv visit was presented as a new diplomatic phase, with Zelensky emphasizing the American envoys’ message that Russia was ready to negotiate. Ukraine, France, Germany and the UK agreed to prepare conditions for further negotiations in the coming weeks, including security guarantees, territorial questions, sanctions and reparations. Zelensky said Ukraine’s position on Donbas had not changed and that the issue would have to be discussed at the leaders’ level.

The talks also focused on Ukraine’s immediate needs: air defence, energy assistance, liquefied natural gas and measures to reduce escalation during winter. Zelensky said Ukraine planned to use September and October to revive the diplomatic process, with the UN General Assembly in New York identified as a possible venue for further US–Ukraine contacts.

How international sources describe it

The visit was framed internationally as an effort by Washington to revive shuttle diplomacy and return to a three-party negotiation format. European officials supported the renewed US engagement while warning that Russia had not shown a genuine willingness to compromise. The European Commission said Russia continued to escalate through attacks on civilians, infrastructure and grain exports, and reaffirmed the EU’s readiness to maintain pressure on Moscow.

Reporting on the US proposals described them as updated versions of earlier peace documents rather than fundamentally new ideas. Analysts said the still-Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbas remained the central unresolved issue and that the war was unlikely to end before winter. Reports also linked the timing of the diplomatic push to Trump’s political calculations and possible upcoming contacts with Putin and Zelensky.

Where reporting differs

The main disagreement concerns whether the talks produced substantive progress. Witkoff said substantial progress had been achieved, including in planning additional trilateral negotiations, and Zelensky said the Americans conveyed that Russia was ready to negotiate. Peskov avoided confirming a breakthrough, described the contacts as only a small step toward peace and said the Kremlin lacked detailed information about the Kyiv outcomes. ISW and Bloomberg reporting concluded that no significant breakthrough occurred and that Putin reaffirmed Russia’s maximalist war aims.

There is also disagreement over the current basis for negotiations. Sources at the Élysée Palace said the earlier Anchorage formula and the 20-point plan might no longer guide the new process, while Russia continued to refer to the so-called root causes of the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said the “spirit of Anchorage” was dead.

Background

The visit came after Witkoff said he had already traveled to Moscow eight times, while the Kyiv trip was the first by the two envoys to Ukraine in their current role since negotiations began in February 2025. The United States had previously circulated a 28-point peace plan that was later narrowed to a 20-point version after input from Ukraine and European countries. The Élysée Palace indicated that the 20-point plan and the so-called 3+2 or Anchorage formula might no longer form the basis of the new process.

Russian State Duma elections were scheduled for September 18–20, and US envoys and a French presidential source said Russia might show a new readiness to negotiate after the elections. A separate winter package discussed in Kyiv was expected to include air-defence and energy assistance, liquefied natural gas and de-escalation measures.