Overview
- U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are preparing a revised negotiation framework that Washington and Kyiv will coordinate before presenting proposals to Moscow.
- The plan focuses first on a pragmatic, partial ceasefire in the skies as a confidence-building step because Ukrainian strikes inside Russia and Russia’s weaker air defenses have changed battlefield incentives.
- Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Moscow in late July or early August after aligning positions with Kyiv, and President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump are preparing to meet soon to discuss next steps.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov publicly said on July 23 that Russia remains open to negotiations, while Ukrainian officials remain skeptical that Moscow will accept a broader settlement.
- Ukraine’s acute shortage of Patriot interceptors and interceptor munitions shapes Kyiv’s urgency for an aerial truce and could make any limited deal the first step toward wider diplomacy if both sides see mutual operational benefits.