WITKOFF’S FIRST VISIT TO KYIV THROWN INTO DOUBT BY SAFETY FEARS
The planned September 5–6 visit of U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv is now uncertain, according to the Kyiv Independent.
A person familiar with the plans said Witkoff “started to get scared” after being warned that Kyiv was dangerous. Alternative arrangements are reportedly being discussed, and a source close to the Trump administration said the visit could still be canceled. Washington has not publicly confirmed or canceled the trip.
The hesitation presents an uncomfortable contrast. European presidents, prime ministers and ministers have repeatedly traveled to Kyiv throughout the invasion, accepting the same air-raid alarms and missile threat under which Ukrainians live every day.
Millions of Ukrainian civilians cannot reschedule their lives because Russia is bombing their cities. Children cannot postpone school indefinitely, doctors cannot abandon their hospitals and emergency workers cannot refuse to enter burning building
There is another troubling imbalance: Moscow reportedly expects Washington to ask Ukraine to suspend attacks on the Russian capital while the envoys are there. No equivalent Russian commitment to leave Kyiv untouched during their visit has been announced.
If Witkoff and Kushner intend to negotiate the future of Ukraine, they should witness the country they are negotiating over—not understand the war exclusively through meetings inside the Kremlin.