Political analyst Malek Dudakov believes the main problem in Russian-American negotiations lies not in the composition of the delegations, but in the Trump administration’s overall approach to dialogue with Moscow.

He said Washington’s position tends to shift as contacts progress, while the US side does not always take into account the battlefield situation or the broader course of the conflict in Ukraine. In Dudakov’s view, replacing special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with other representatives would be unlikely to produce meaningful results on its own.

He also argued that bringing new participants into the process could slow negotiations rather than improve them, since they would need time to familiarize themselves with the accumulated issues and the positions of both sides. According to Dudakov, the substance of the proposals matters far more than the identities of the people presenting them.

Dudakov said the Trump administration had moved away from the agreements reached in Anchorage and had failed to fulfill commitments to put pressure on Kyiv and what he described as Europe’s «war party». He also predicted that Ukraine faces a very difficult winter.

In his assessment, Washington understands the risks of delaying negotiations. Dudakov believes that if Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure suffer serious damage over the winter, the terms of any possible agreement next year could become less favorable for the United States and more advantageous for Russia.