Putin accepts not attacking Kyiv for three days for the visit of the American emissaries

MoscowAfter more than half a year with peace talks stalled due to the conflict in the Middle East, Donald Trump is seeking to relaunch negotiations to reach an agreement that puts an end to the war in Ukraine. His envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, landed this Saturday in Moscow, where they are currently meeting with Vladimir Putin, and the following day they will be in Kyiv for the first time to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The visit is taking place in the midst of an escalation of long-range cross-bombardments and with the Russian president less willing than ever to make concessions. Despite this, both sides have ended up accepting a three-day ceasefire over both capitals to guarantee the safety of the American diplomats.

The truce, which is usually considered a test of good will, has been marked by Putin's resistance. On Friday, Zelenskyy announced that he would immediately stop attacks both at the front and in the rear, but Russia did not agree and wanted to set the timing and conditions. During the early hours of Saturday, the Russian army continued the bombings and killed four people in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Furthermore, it also attacked airports in the vicinity of Kyiv, in an attempt to make it clear that it was not safe for the White House envoys to fly to the Ukrainian capital. Zelenskyy described them as “demonstrative” and “deliberate” acts. “Clearly, these Russian attacks on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility that the American side would use an aircraft to travel to Ukraine. Russian-Iranian Shaheds in response to American diplomacy,” he wrote.

It was not until the afternoon that the Kremlin complied with the ceasefire, but it limited it to Kyiv and Moscow, and refused to stop the offensive on the front line. In this way, the Russian government intends to make it understood to the negotiators that they are the ones who hold the upper hand and that it is Ukraine that is desperately trying to achieve a pause in the fighting. In addition to targeting Kyiv's airports, which had not been a target of Russian drones for some time, the day before, the Russian army also attacked the office of the head of Ukrainian intelligence in the city's historic center, culminating more than a week of incessant attacks against the capital.

Low expectations

Putin, as in Witkoff's seven previous visits, has once again kept his guests waiting. Trump's emissaries landed in Moscow at noon and the Russian president filled his schedule with events until meeting with them at eight in the evening. Presidential advisor Kirill Dmitriev, who has the best relationship with them, met them at the airport and took them to lunch at a restaurant in the city center where one could read on the windows "Everything for victory!". The establishment is owned by a pro-Putin rapper who also took over the American Starbucks business when the company left Russia in 2022.

Expectations for this double visit are very low and the obstacles that have stalled any peace agreement so far have not vanished. The Russian president is convinced that his troops will soon be able to conquer the Donbas, despite the evidence that their advances are very slow. The Kremlin does not want to negotiate anything as long as Zelensky does not order his men to abandon the last bastions of that region. And, although he no longer trusts that Washington can force him to take this step, Russian diplomacy insists that the American administration "must take into account the realities on the ground, where the situation is changing to the detriment of Kyiv". If not, it has already expressed on several occasions that it is determined to achieve its goal by force of arms.

According to various reports, the trip by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Russia to convince Putin's inner circle that the most sensible thing was to find a way out of the crisis before the military and economic situation worsened did not please Moscow.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian president maintains that the handover of the Donbas is an intolerable starting point and insists on the demand for a ceasefire prior to any discussion. Zelensky has been striving for many months to reactivate diplomatic efforts, stalled by the American attack on Iran, and for the United States envoys to be able to see the ravages of war up close. However, although he publicly shows hope for the results of this visit, in Ukraine they do not trust that it will pave the way towards the resolution of the conflict.

Before the trip, Trump asserted that Witkoff and Kushner would bring a “peace idea” to Moscow and Kyiv. However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified this Saturday that it was not a new proposal. The formulas proposed so far have not worked, and every time the White House has tried to spur mediation with new plans, it has run into the inflexibility of a Putin for whom this war is his legacy and of a Zelensky who does not want to go down in history as the president who surrendered Ukraine.