On August 6, U.S. Special Envoy Steven Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Media reports suggested that the visit was at the Kremlin’s request, coming in the wake of comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, expressing dissatisfaction at Russia’s slow pace in reaching peace with Ukraine.
The same day, Trump issued an executive order titled “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of the Russian Federation,” which targeted India with additional tariffs stemming from its import of Russian oil. Although Russia, in the executive order, is characterized as a threat to U.S. national security, the order itself punishes India most directly.
The Russian and American presidents are set to meet in Alaska on August 15. Over the weekend, the White House was reportedly considering inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Alaska summit, but whether the bilateral meeting will become a trilateral one is not known. On August 7, in response to media questions, Putin said, “I have already said many times that I have nothing against [meeting with Zelenskyy] in general, it is possible. But for this to happen, certain conditions must be created. Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”
The August 9 comments from Russian Presidential Advisor Yuri Ushakov focused on the bilateral nature of the planned meeting.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance for a meeting with Ukrainian officials, as well as representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Finland, and Poland on August 10.
Chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, told Newsweek that inviting Zelenskyy to the Alaska meeting would align with the “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” principle. But it’s unclear if such an invitation will be forthcoming, or if such a trilateral would yield genuine progress.
Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on an approach to peace, primarily due to the reality that Russia does not want to give up territory it has seized, and Ukraine has no interest in making territorial concessions. Trump’s desire to achieve a deal is not rooted in respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity or sovereignty; it’s rooted in his desired self-perception as a master dealmaker (although many “deals” settled by Trump have either unraveled, as in the case of North Korea in his first administration, or were rooted in considerable diplomatic work that pre-dated his administration, as in the case of Armenia and Azerbaijan). Trump’s shifting position on Ukraine has most recently yielded comments that “There will be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both.” Kyiv may not be keen on that approach.
The diplomatic maneuvering is widespread as all sides seek to bolster their position and line up partners. In the days after the Putin-Witkoff meeting, Putin made a series of phone calls that sketch out Russia’s array of partners across Asia in particular.
Aside from scheduled negotiations with Malaysia on August 6, and a visit by UAE President Mohammed Al Nahyan on August 7, Putin met with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, also on August 7.
Then the phone calls began. Putin spoke via phone with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (August 7), Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (August 8), Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (August 8), Chinese President Xi Jinping (August 8), Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (August 8), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (August 8), Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (August 9), Tajik President Emomalu Rahmon (August 10), and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov (August 10).
The Kremlin readouts for all the above-mentioned phone calls vary slightly, but each one notes that Putin shared the “main results of the conversation” he had with Witkoff.
And Putin isn’t alone in making phone calls. On August 10, Zelenskyy spoke with Kazakhstan’s Tokayev, too.
As Ukrainian officials look to Europe for backing, Putin looks to Asia and BRICS; Trump keeps his eyes on the spotlight.
