Trump's Dubai-Style Diplomacy: Kushner and Witkoff Broker War from Kremlin Couch
KEY POINTS
- •Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in the Kremlin Saturday to push restarting Ukraine-Russia talks.
- •They arranged a short pause in Ukraine airstrikes starting midnight Moscow time, facilitating their trip to Kyiv on Sunday.
- •The flight to Ukraine marks the highest-level U.S. visit since February 2022 and the first international landing since the war began.
In a Kremlin meeting that lasted three hours — basically the Russian version of a Netflix binge — President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner huddled with Vladimir Putin to pitch restarting Russia-Ukraine talks. They got Russia and Ukraine to agree on a 'short pause' in airstrikes, timed to Putin’s 11:59PM Moscow curfew, just enough to let the American duo jet to Kyiv on Sunday, marking the first international flight into Ukraine since war broke out in February 2022. Topics included Putin’s suspiciously swift trust in US mediation, the release of ex-Marine Robert Gilman (a plot twist worthy of an action movie), and promises to keep negotiators safer than a kid in a 'cheese wheel of diplomacy.' Meanwhile, Kyiv is still dodging drones like it’s a real-life game of Missile Mario Kart.
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(1 of 3)Nothing screams 'peace talks' like envoys shadowed by sudden missile spikes and airstrike pauses that start exactly at midnight Moscow time. Diplomacy or deluxe game of geopolitical musical chairs?
Putin’s idea of peace talks: hit pause on missiles and then crank them back up the moment envoys hop on their plane. Truly high-stakes hide-and-seek.
Kushner and Witkoff’s Moscow-Kyiv tour: where releasing one Marine gets a bigger PR blitz than actual fighting stopping. Premiere diplomacy extravaganza.
Source: Axios | Published: 9/5/2026 | Author: Barak Ravid
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