Same Appeasement, Same Mistakes

More Russia-Ukraine Missteps from Kushner and Witkoff

This past weekend, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who negotiates on behalf of the US with no official government role) traveled to Russia and Ukraine to restart peace negotiations for Europe’s largest war. According to reporting, proposals floated by Russian negotiators were focused on the “root causes” of the conflict and included the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from parts of Donetsk and Ukraine’s abandonment of future NATO membership, In total, the proposal differs little from those advanced a year ago.

We’ve seen this all before: representatives of the second Trump administration visit Russia in search of a potential peace process, Putin delivers a maximalist vision as a starting point to his American audience, and Trump’s emissaries take this at face value and report this ploy for conquest and subjugation as a breakthrough in the peace process. When Ukraine questions the proposal and tries to rationalize compromises, Zelenskyy will be framed as a spoiler. Rinse and repeat. See you six months from now.

At least this time Kushner and Witkoff managed to visit both Moscow and Kyiv, rather than just focusing on Russia and Putin’s circle of advisers. Nevertheless, Trump’s envoys still managed to carry Putin’s water, pushing a deal that makes less sense today than it did even a year ago when Russia’s military prospects seemed brighter. Kushner, once again showing both naivete and willful ignorance, referenced a potential “win-win” resolution to the war. Trump and his representatives are still approaching this war like a transaction and a real-estate deal without any comprehension of the geopolitical stakes embodied in this clash between democracies and authoritarian regimes. The bizarre reference to all the “incredible memories” the American side would have from their negotiations with Putin further underscores that Kushner and Witkoff are completely out of their depth.

There is nothing we will learn from this round of diplomacy that we didn’t already know, and the failure of this round of talks was prescribed before the envoys left the United States. That being said, there are two elements that observers should focus on when viewing this exchange in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the parade of Trump’s foreign policy failures.

The first is that, under Trump, the United States’ aura of indispensability has been absolutely shattered. The Russians know it. The Chinese know it. The Iranians know it. And America’s allies know it. Trump has rendered the U.S. irrelevant and much of the world view this moment an era to be suffered through. Trump’s closest allies can be played like a fiddle, and by this point the Ukrainians have no expectations for any serious American-led efforts to end the war. In 2022 and 2023 our decisions shaped the direction and outcome of the conflict. Now, we’re a sideshow that can be safely ignored by Kyiv and Moscow, as well as by other great and middle powers.

The second crucial element of this visit that observers should consider is how this display of doomed diplomacy fits in with the recent visit by CIA Director Ratcliffe to Moscow. Not only does the presence of Witkoff and Kushner soften the impact of whatever warning Ratcliffe delivered to Putin’s inner circle, but it also shows that the American government is divided in its own objectives and strategic vision for approaching Russia. Voices like Ratcliffe and Rubio, who have historically been hawkish on Russia, must now contend with the short-sighted diplomatic initiatives of Trump’s son-in-law and a real estate investor. The Washington Post reported that Ratcliffe warned Russian officials that continuing the war could backfire and that Russia’s position would deteriorate further.

This isn’t a strategy for peace. It’s a recipe for chaos.