European officials familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the Russian president plans to intensify attacks against Ukraine this winter, aiming to test its resilience and the resolve of Kyiv’s allies.
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“President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff made very little progress during negotiations in Moscow and Kyiv over the weekend,” the officials said.
Meanwhile, Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov stated that Putin and Trump had a “constructive and fairly open” hour-long phone conversation on Tuesday discussing the results of the envoys’ visits. He added that both leaders agreed to maintain contact.
Officials emphasized to Bloomberg that Putin showed no signs of being willing to soften his position, despite recent signals sent to Moscow by the US indicating that new ideas are needed to revive stalled peace talks.
One source said that Russia’s plan for the next six months is to intensify attacks on Ukraine’s energy and heat infrastructure to make civilian life unbearable, as well as to strengthen hybrid attacks and political interference in Europe to weaken support for Kyiv.
“We must be prepared for a prolonged conflict and for Ukraine’s needs to persist for many months and years. We must also be prepared for other likely scenarios,” said US Deputy Secretary of Defense policy Elbridge Colby at a meeting of Ukraine’s defense contact group on Tuesday.
One source said that Putin used the US envoys’ visit to demonstrate his strength domestically ahead of the Russian State Duma elections scheduled for September 18–20.
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“Before meeting them in the Kremlin, he made the US delegation wait until the evening, so S. Witkoff and J. Kushner had to spend several hours dining with Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev at an expensive restaurant in central Moscow,” the source added.
Sources from the publication noted that trilateral talks between US, Russian, and Ukrainian representatives could be resumed after the State Duma elections, although it is unlikely that such discussions would have a significant impact on the peace agreement process.
Earlier, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, responding to a proposal to resume talks involving Ukraine and the United States, said it was “too early” to discuss the location and possible timing of such talks.
“Of course, any more or less effective attempts are a small step towards peace. We truly appreciate the US negotiators’ peace efforts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the resumption of the negotiation process and identified the main issue. He noted that the territorial question remains relevant.
“The most important thing is that today we have the opportunity to discuss everything: security guarantees, and we are indeed talking about Ukraine’s future. We all want – and on this issue we are united – to end the war as soon as possible,” the head of state said.
