The special envoy of the president of Ukraine, Steve Witkov, had contacts with the Ukrainian side after his meeting with the Russian president and his close associates Yuri Usakov and Kirill Dimitriev.
In this revelation, which probably means that he now has an image of what happened yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriy Sibiha, proceeded, who from Brussels, where he is for the work of the NATO-Ukraine Council, asserted that: “There was communication between the head of the Ukrainian delegation and Mr. Vitkov. The representatives of the American delegation said that, in their opinion, the talks in Moscow had a positive result. They invited the Ukrainian delegation to continue our discussions in America in the near future.”
The assessment from Moscow is also positive
Earlier Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov argued that the progress made by Russian forces on the battlefield in Ukraine had a positive impact for Russia in the peace talks. Putin’s secret agent made these statements today, a day after the talks in which he also participated with the envoys of the US president, Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
In a video released on the eve of the talks, President Vladimir Putin welcomed Russia’s capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk as reported to him by his military commanders. Kiev has rejected his claim, saying fighting continues there.
But Ushakov, speaking after talks between Putin and the US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, said “the course and nature of the negotiations, of course, were influenced by the successes of recent weeks … on the battlefield.”
The Russian leadership invests in the image of the “winner”
“In other words, our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, have contributed to a more positive assessment of the paths to a peaceful settlement by our foreign partners,” Ushakov told reporters.
He said he hoped Ukraine and its European allies would also adopt “a more balanced attitude and perception of what is happening”.
Russian forces control more than 19% of Ukraine, or 115,600 square kilometers, occupying only 1% of its territory compared to the previous two years, although in 2025 they had advanced at a faster rate than in 2022, according to Ukrainian maps.
