Kyiv Gets Its Hearing: Zelensky Finally in the Room
Per the New York Times, a deadly campaign of Russian and Ukrainian airstrikes has escalated since the last U.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff landed in Kyiv on Sunday, completing the diplomatic circuit that began in Moscow — their first official visit to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began. According to Bloomberg, the Moscow session ran more than three hours and produced no announcement. What it produced, apparently, was enough to put Zelensky in the next meeting.
The sequencing matters. Washington went to Putin first. That is not a neutral choice. It signals leverage — or at least the appearance of it — and Kyiv has spent months reading those appearances carefully. Per the New York Times, a deadly campaign of Russian and Ukrainian airstrikes has escalated since the last U.S.-brokered negotiations collapsed in February, meaning the men now sitting across from Zelensky are arriving into a conflict that has gotten measurably worse since diplomacy last failed.
No framework has been announced. No ceasefire terms are public. What is on the table stays off the record for now, which is exactly how the Americans prefer it — options preserved, commitments avoided, pressure maintained without the accountability that comes with a signed document.
The BBC confirmed the Kyiv arrival without detail on substance. That absence of detail is itself the story: both sides are still deciding what to give up, which means neither side has decided yet.
One move: If you are tracking this negotiation for business exposure — sanctions, energy contracts, reconstruction tenders — register on the EU's Ukraine recovery procurement portal now. The paperwork queue is already months long.
