Just two weeks after President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left Kyiv, calling their talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “very meaningful,” Russia is investing in the industrial infrastructure to sustain a war that Washington is trying to end. The contrast deserves more attention.

The Sept. 6 meeting was part of the Trump administration’s effort to revive negotiations. Witkoff described the discussions as “substantive” and “important,” while Kushner called them encouraging. Yet while diplomats search for a settlement, Russian factories are being expanded, hardened, and moved deeper into the country. The clearest example is Alabuga, the Tatarstan industrial complex responsible for much of Russia’s production of Shahed-derived Geran attack drones. Satellite imagery shows new production blocks under construction, adding to an industrial site that Moscow has already expanded significantly during the war.