President Donald Trump’s diplomatic envoys deserve praise for working to secure a peace deal that ends the war in Ukraine. But by again meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will only lend credibility to Putin’s false sincerity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted on Thursday that the two men were likely to visit both Kyiv and Moscow in the coming days. Welcoming the prospective visit, Zelensky added that Ukraine was committed to finding a just resolution to the now 4-year, 6-month-old war. Putin has offered similar claims since Trump’s return to office, keen to avoid alienating the American president. He knows that Trump prizes both the personal prestige and moral value of peace agreements. The Russian leader also knows that isolating Trump would risk catastrophic sanctions or boosted U.S. arms support for Ukraine. And that these developments would threaten Putin’s hold on power.
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Yet, while Winston Churchill’s adage that “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war” remains true, Kushner and Witkoff risk making a mistake in visiting Moscow at this moment. The problem?
There is absolutely no evidence that Putin has abandoned his hairbrained demands for what any peace deal with Ukraine would look like. These demands entail Ukraine’s neutering of its sovereignty and military, the permanent sacrifice of territories Russia does not control, and the absence of a Western peacekeeping force that could prevent Putin from repeating another invasion in the future. In turn, Trump’s envoys risk only creating a theatrical spectacle for Putin. A production that presents Putin as serious about peace, while he does absolutely nothing to advance the cause of peace.
Just look at Putin’s escalating missile and drone attacks on Ukraine. Or at how Russia continues to throw heavy resources at seizing a few feet more of territory in southeastern Ukraine. And while he’s worried about their impact on his domestic support, escalating casualties (approximately 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the war began), a stagnant front line, and highly effective Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure haven’t moved Putin to a more concessionary mindset.
This means that Witkoff and Kushner are likely walking into a trap in Moscow.
They’ll be feted by the Russian president and his fake pro-American puppet Kirill Dmitriev. Putin will offer seemingly heartfelt salutations for Witkoff to deliver to Trump. He’ll provide ideas that seem to suggest his genuine desire to end the war. Beyond the pomp and circumstance, however, this visit will provide the same result as all the previous ones Kushner and Witkoff have made to Moscow. Namely, a lot of propaganda videos of Putin receiving deferential American interlocutors, alongside the president’s ultimately vacuous protestations for peace.
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None of this will actually serve the cause of peace. It will only encourage Putin to believe that he can avoid new U.S. sanctions or increased American support for Ukraine by his continued Moscow theater productions. In turn, if Kushner and Witkoff want to avoid being inadvertent dancers in the Kremlin’s ballet, they should stay at home. When Putin wants to be serious about peace, he can make it clear.
Only then should these two peacemakers go back to Moscow.
