Russia is not ready for a quick end to the war, no breakthrough after Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Kyiv — Ivan Stupak
The visit of U.S. President’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv produced no breakthrough results in the negotiations to end the russian-Ukrainian war. At the same time, after September 8, new massive russian strikes on Ukraine can be expected. Military expert and former SBU officer Ivan Stupak said this in a comment to OstroV.
According to him, the current stage of the negotiating process gives no reason to expect a quick end to the war.
“I’ll be frank, I don’t expect anything groundbreaking from them, because russia has already stated many times that it wants to achieve its goals. And Kushner and Witkoff cannot do anything at this stage”, - Stupak noted.
Stupak also noted that, in his opinion, during the talks, the Ukrainian side could have presented the American representatives with proposals that it was ready to accept, while Witkoff and Kushner had an opportunity to hear the position of the russian side.
“There are some developments. Ukraine shared what it is most likely ready to accept and support regarding certain proposals. They heard something from the russians and will now go report back to Trump”, - he explained.
At the same time, the expert does not believe that these contacts will make it possible to reach agreements on ending the war in the near future.
“I think we shouldn’t expect anything before the end of February. This is the cold period of the year. It is the russians’ desire to take revenge for all the humiliations they experienced during the spring and summer of 2026: burning oil refineries, Wildberries, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum”, - Stupak said.
In his opinion, the combination of these factors may affect russia’s readiness to continue hostilities rather than move toward a quick end to the war.
Stupak also spoke about the informal part of the American delegation’s stay in Ukraine. According to him, Witkoff and Kushner went to the President of Ukraine late in the evening for an informal meeting.
“I thought they wouldn’t even spend the night there, but as you can see, it happened; they went there very late at night. As I understand it, this was an informal conversation, already an attempt at an off-the-record, heart-to-heart talk and an effort to find some kind of mutual understanding”, - the expert noted.
However, in his assessment, the overall situation has not changed.
“And judging by the overall feedback, I feel that nothing has changed. And after September 8, we again expect massive shelling from the territory of russia”, - Stupak noted.