US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will send his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv in the coming weeks, in what will be their first visit to Ukraine since taking leading roles in the administration’s efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion. The announcement, reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Friday, comes as Washington’s approach to the war shows signs of shifting.
Kurt Volker, the former US special representative for Ukraine during Trump’s first administration and a former US ambassador to NATO, said the trip matters because the envoys “have never been to Ukraine. They’ve gone to Russia many times. They’ve met with Putin in Russia many times. They’ve been fed Russia’s narrative about the war, about Ukraine, and they’ve never seen it with their own eyes.”
Volker predicted the visit would change their perception: “You get there and realize that Kyiv is a big, functioning city and Russia is just attacking it with weapons. It’s crazy. I think that will have an impact on them.” He said the political mood in Washington has shifted “more positive toward Ukraine and more critical and skeptical of Russia.”
The former envoy said he expects the Graham Sanctions Act to pass Congress, though he cautioned that the shift “is eliminating a negative. It’s not necessarily adding a big positive.” Asked whether the absence of a Senate-confirmed US ambassador to Ukraine weakens Washington’s influence at a pivotal moment, Volker said it does not matter because in the second Trump administration “Trump does everything himself.”
The visit comes as Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, with a suspected Russian cruise missile entering Polish airspace and detonating, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets. Volker said NATO should put in place the means to shoot down anything that crosses into allied airspace the moment it does so, and called for fully integrating Ukraine’s and NATO’s air-defense pictures, including a joint no-fly zone about 200 kilometres into Ukrainian territory.
“That would be protection for NATO,” he said. “We don’t want anything dangerous flying within 200 kilometers of NATO territory. We’ll call it an exclusion zone. And if anything does, we will work with Ukraine to make sure it gets shot down.” He argued this would not mean directly entering the war on Ukraine’s behalf, but NATO “on its own behalf, doing more for air defense so that the war does not expand to NATO territory.”
The envoy trip follows President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s return from Washington, where Trump backed Patriot missile production licenses for Ukraine, and as Congress advances tougher sanctions on Russia. Trump said this week he was “not sure” about allowing Ukraine to build Patriot missiles domestically, a key request from Kyiv, according to the Guardian’s Ukraine war briefing.
Analysts say the visit could shape White House policy toward the war at a pivotal moment, as Moscow steps up strikes and Ukraine presses allies for more air defenses. Volker noted that Witkoff and Kushner have met Putin in Russia many times, and seeing Ukraine directly for the first time could influence the advice they bring back to the president.
Sources: RFE/RL, The Guardian
Author: Ukraine Desk
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