One person's personal fear is once again casting doubt on the diplomatic route upon which the fate of peace negotiations depends. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner planned to visit Moscow and Kyiv on September 5-6, but Witkoff "started getting scared," prompting the teams to discuss alternative plans. This was reported by Kyiv Independent, citing sources.
"The Russians don't want them to come here, to Kyiv, and Witkoff is always sensitive to Russian sentiment. They're telling him it's dangerous there," the source told the publication.
What exactly frightened the envoy
Notably, the doubts intensified immediately after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly confirmed the likelihood of the visit on September 3 - that is, when the trip was already set to have official status. Russian state agency TASS, meanwhile, distributed a specific schedule: Witkoff and Kushner were to arrive in Moscow on September 5, and could travel to Kyiv as early as September 6, although there was no official confirmation of these plans.
The situation was further complicated by an incident involving Kyiv's Zhuliany airport: according to People's Deputy Oleksii Honcharenko, Russia allegedly struck a drone at an aircraft at Zhuliany airport amid the possible visit of American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv. After this, the deputy notes, Witkoff and Kushner are unlikely to use an airplane, and will probably choose ground transportation for the trip. At the stage of planning the route, the American side was already considering flying into Boryspil, although it had certain doubts about such a route.
Who benefits from the delay
The asymmetry here is striking: while the trip to Kyiv is once again under question for the second time in a month, the Trump team is traveling to Moscow without problems. At the same time, they have repeatedly traveled to Moscow, where they met with Russian President Vladimir Putin - and this part of the route has never raised "security concerns." For the Kremlin, such a configuration is advantageous in two ways: it remains the primary and safe interlocutor for American envoys, and the mere mention of danger in Kyiv supports the narrative that the Ukrainian capital is supposedly a problematic point on the route, rather than a place where Russia directs missiles and drones daily.
This is not the first postponed visit. Witkoff and Kushner were supposed to come to Ukraine in early August, but the visit was postponed then. A source close to the Trump administration confirmed to Slovo i Dilo that the trip was indeed planned, but it "could still be canceled" - wording that leaves room for another postponement without officially admitting the plans fell through.
Reactions from the parties
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is trying to maintain an optimistic tone: department head Andriy Sybiha announced "new momentum" in peace efforts with the return of an active political and diplomatic phase, although he acknowledged that this is unrealistic without American participation. Zelenskyy, for his part, stated that Kyiv is ready to meet with American representatives, and the arrival of the envoys would be important for maintaining an active U.S. role in the negotiations.
The problem is that this readiness has been declared by the Ukrainian side for over a month - since July, when Witkoff and Kushner agreed to visit Kyiv for the first time - yet no actual visit has taken place. Each new date is accompanied by a new explanation: first, an escalation of rocket and drone attacks in late August, now - Witkoff's personal fears following the incident near Zhuliany.
What this means going forward
If the Trump team ultimately flies or drives to Kyiv on September 6 or in the coming days after that, it will become the first real confirmation that American mediators are willing to operate under the same conditions in which the Ukrainian capital has lived for a year and a half. If the trip is postponed for a third time without a new firm date, it will mean one thing: the level of risk tolerance among Trump's negotiators is significantly lower than their declared readiness to "end the war" - and Moscow has already learned this well.
