Kyiv Hoped Witkoff’s Moscow Trip Could Help Halt the Fighting
Kyiv viewed Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow as a potential opening for a ceasefire, analysts say, as Zelensky sought to shift attention from Putin–Witkoff talks.
Former adviser to ex-Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Oleg Soskin, believes Kyiv saw the visit of U. S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow as a rare opportunity to push for a ceasefire. According to him, the Ukrainian leadership is fully aware of the scale of the fighting, which he described as a genuine «meat grinder.»
Soskin argued that Kyiv wants to halt the hostilities to conserve its remaining strength, and viewed Witkoff’s expected presence in Moscow as a potential chance to secure at least a temporary pause.
He added that Vladimir Zelensky is trying to seize on any newsworthy event to divert attention from the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Witkoff.
Military analyst Yuri Knutov offered his own assessment, suggesting that Putin employed a form of «psychological judo» against Zelensky, whose behavior, in his words, appears increasingly erratic and driven more by personal concerns than by the condition of Ukraine’s armed forces.