Month: August 2026

Burç Eruygur

• Media reports suggest visit by US envoys to Moscow, Kyiv to revive stalled Russia-Ukraine peace talks
• Despite US-mediated talks earlier this year, negotiations have been on hold as Washington’s focus shifts to Mideast

Recent media reports concerning a potential visit by US envoys to Kyiv and Moscow have raised questions about whether Washington can rekindle peace efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Citing an unspecified source, Russian state news agency Tass reported on Aug. 8 that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner may visit Kyiv and Moscow “within a week to 10 days” for talks on the ongoing conflict.

The report came just over a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Axios in an interview that a likely visit to Kyiv by the two US envoys in the next two weeks was an outcome of his meeting with Trump in the White House a day prior.

Witkoff and Kushner have never visited Kyiv, while both envoys conducted several visits to Moscow since US-mediated talks began, the last of which took place on Jan. 22, when they met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

Reason behind stalled negotiations

Both Russian and Ukrainian authorities have converged on the point that the current pause in peace negotiations are the result of the US focus on Iran and the armed conflict in the Middle East, which began on Feb. 28.

Under US mediation, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of peace talks this January and February in a bid to find a settlement for the more-than-four-year war.

The first two rounds of negotiations were held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on Jan. 23-24 and Feb. 4-5. The second round resulted in an exchange of 157 prisoners of war from each side, marking the first such exchange between Russia and Ukraine in five months.

A third round of US-mediated negotiations took place later that month, on Feb. 17-18, in Geneva, Switzerland, which focused primarily on core issues in the ongoing war, namely territories, but did not result in any breakthrough.

In the weeks that followed, Russia and Ukraine held separate bilateral talks with the US, while acknowledging that trilateral negotiations had been paused as Washington shifted its focus to the war in Iran.

Tehran and Washington have yet to reach a final agreement to end the ongoing confrontation, while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt global energy supply chains.

Deadlock caused by different positions

Statements from Kyiv and Moscow continue to shed light on ongoing differences that have caused a deadlock in negotiations.

In the first months of the war in Iran, Russia has reiterated its demand that Ukraine withdraw its military from the industrial Donbas region.

Russian authorities have also accused the US of moving away from what they described as “understandings” reached during Putin and Trump’s summit in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June that Russia had accepted US proposals discussed in Anchorage.

However, Russia has also praised the US and Trump personally for seeking to end the war.

Later that month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that any agreement was reached between Moscow and Washington.

“There was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement in Alaska. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end to the war,” Rubio told reporters in Bahrain’s capital Manama.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have regularly rejected the demand for a withdrawal from Donbas.

Kyiv has also pushed for post-war security guarantees from Western allies against Russia, though Moscow, for its part, has insisted that it seeks a comprehensive and legally binding security arrangement that goes beyond Ukraine.

Prospects of expected talks

The reported visit of the US envoys is expected to revive discussions on a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

During an evening address last Tuesday, Zelenskyy declared that the Ukrainian side had presented the American side with proposals to end the conflict.

“America can help strengthen our defense, first and foremost through air defense, and it can put pressure on Russia so that its plans change – from prolonging the war to preparing to end it,” Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said on Aug. 10 in an interview with Tass that Moscow is open to any constructive proposals that take into account Moscow’s legitimate interests and renewed Russia’s commitment to the “understandings” in Alaska.

He also rejected the “freezing” of the Ukraine war without addressing its “root causes,” while defining US rhetoric and actions as “contradictory.”​​​​​​​