Witkoff and Kushner’s Kyiv visit came and went – though what was discussed exactly was anyone’s guess.
The two US envoys’ visit began in Moscow on Saturday with three hours of supposedly lengthy deliberation, followed by three additional rounds of talks – which also involved European security advisors at some point – in Kyiv on Sunday. Everyone called the talks productive, but none revealed any groundbreaking (or war-ending) changes.
With Witkoff and Kushner finally making their journey to Kyiv after nearly five years of war, journalists also confronted them with how often Witkoff sat down with Putin before making his way to where the war is actually being fought. At least everyone agreed that a trilateral talk is the next logical step – if it doesn’t fizzle out like the last few times it was proposed.
The talks were also marked by a rare ceasefire – if we can call it that. While it had been mostly quiet in Kyiv starting Sunday thanks to the three-day ceasefire, explosions and attacks continued unabated across Ukraine and at the front, with Kyiv and Moscow both hitting places where talks were not held.
The weekend also saw Germany’s AfD win a major regional election, compounding concerns across Europe about whether the far right will soon sweep across Germany.
And to top it off, Ukraine was also hit with a major corruption scandal right before Witkoff and Kushner’s visit, this time concerning fraudulent call centers supposedly protected by a deputy department head from the Prosecutor General’s Office. Calling it bad would be an understatement.
By Leo Chiu
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