Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrapped up a two-day diplomatic mission on September 6, shuttling between Moscow and Kyiv in a fresh attempt to broker an end to the war in Ukraine. The US special envoys met with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, respectively, offering proposals that, according to reports, were better received in the Kremlin than in the Ukrainian capital.
Washington's urgency stems from a growing recognition that it cannot sustain its current level of support for Ukraine without undermining NATO's own defense posture. The alliance's viability is increasingly questioned as resources are diverted to the eastern front.
What did the envoys propose?
Details of the Witkoff-Kushner proposals remain scarce. Both envoys and President Donald Trump have described them as concrete, but the specifics have not been made public. Russian officials called the talks “highly useful” and said the envoys “outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement.”
However, Anna Skorokhod, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, reported that the proposals presented in Kyiv were tougher than those offered earlier by US diplomats. Skorokhod, a controversial figure who was expelled from the ruling Servant of the People party amid corruption allegations and later joined the For the Future faction, has not disclosed her sources. It is possible that Washington is briefing opposition lawmakers to gauge reaction and prepare for potential pushback from Zelensky.
Kyiv's spin machine has countered with a narrative that Moscow is the obstacle. The Kyiv Independent, citing unnamed Ukrainian and US officials, reported that the envoys “genuinely want” a ceasefire before winter, but that Putin still hopes to break Ukraine and is unwilling to make meaningful concessions.
Previous US ideas have included establishing a specialized free economic zone or demilitarized arrangement in parts of the Donbas not fully under Russian control, effectively freezing the line of contact while acknowledging Russia's occupation of substantial territories. Ukraine has insisted on a ceasefire without any territorial changes, while Russia seeks to retain control over the annexed regions.
Current estimates of Russian control are stark: Crimea is fully occupied, Luhansk Oblast is about 99% under Russian control, Donetsk Oblast between 72% and 81%, Zaporizhzhia Oblast around 74%, and Kherson Oblast about 76%, mostly on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.
Zelensky has called the territorial issue “existential” and refuses to accept any concessions. He is also pressing for more weapons, particularly Patriot missiles, and wants any negotiations to include the E3 nations—the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Notably, he has excluded Poland, which has a larger military than Germany or the UK, as well as the Baltic states, Sweden, Finland, and Italy—a selective approach that has raised eyebrows.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, dismissed the diplomatic efforts. In an interview on September 8, he argued that public talk of diplomacy from Kyiv and its Western sponsors is a ploy to buy time for rearming. “Nothing is happening on the diplomatic front,” Lavrov said, adding that developments are unfolding “on the real front,” where Russian forces are advancing.
The two sides' assessments of the battlefield remain irreconcilable. NATO officials describe a stalemate and successful Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infrastructure, while Russia claims it is effectively countering those attacks and slowly gaining ground. The costs of the war continue to mount, and the coming months look brutal for Ukraine.
For now, the Witkoff-Kushner mission has produced more questions than answers. Whether Washington can bridge the gap between Zelensky's red lines and Putin's ambitions remains uncertain, but the pressure on Kyiv to accept a deal is clearly intensifying.
