Kyiv and Moscow are now converging on the same conclusion, though for opposite reasons: the American-mediated peace process is a dead channel, and Steve Witkoff is the dead weight inside it.
The Diplomatic Dead Channel
Sources close to the negotiations told Kyiv Independent that both capitals are increasingly frustrated with the US envoy, and behind the scenes there are active attempts to remove him from the equation entirely. Ukrainian officials say they see almost no new ideas from Washington and no willingness to increase pressure on Russia. Their summary of the American position is blunt: "They keep telling us, 'you have to end this war.' As if we, for fuck's sake, don't want to end it." Kyiv has dealt with this level of diplomatic sophistication for two years.
Witkoff's personal conduct has not helped. One participant in trilateral talks said Witkoff sometimes left meetings without telling anyone where he was going. Another described him as more interested in restaurants and similar things, adding that he genuinely seemed uninterested in the substance. He could simply vanish and go for a walk. For Ukrainian negotiators, the choice was deliberate: a man treating the most consequential security negotiation in Europe since 1945 as a networking event.
The Fantasy of the "3+2" Position
Witkoff returned from a meeting with Putin a week before the Alaska summit without a stenographer, using a Kremlin translator instead of an American embassy interpreter, a direct protocol violation. He then told Trump that Putin was ready to discuss a territorial scheme under which Ukraine would withdraw from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts while Russia pulled back from occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. That was the so-called "3+2" position. It did not exist.
Putin was never prepared to make those concessions. Witkoff misread the Russian position and sold Trump a fantasy. When American officials briefed Ukrainian and European counterparts on what Witkoff had transmitted, the reaction was shock. Kyiv immediately understood there was a fundamental misunderstanding between the two sides. The discrepancy became impossible to ignore when Trump announced the Alaska summit and Putin showed up unwilling to offer the territorial concessions Witkoff had described. One former American official who attended called the summit a "complete failure," noting the Russian delegation left without even touching lunch.
The difference between a diplomatic channel and a sightseeing tour is exactly this.
The Collapse of the Dmitriev Channel
Another layer exists. One negotiation participant claims Witkoff failed to pass along Putin's demand that any Alaska agreements be formalized in writing. The summit therefore ended with no written framework that could have served as a basis for further talks. A major omission. The 28-point memorandum Witkoff worked on with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev collapsed as well.
Dmitriev, like Witkoff, operates outside traditional foreign policy structures, which irritates Lavrov. And like Witkoff, Dmitriev is increasingly seen by people close to the talks as someone who promises a lot and delivers little. Dmitriev was a key figure pushing the Anchorage summit. Its failure weakened him inside the Kremlin and strengthened Lavrov and the FSB hawks who believe military victory over Ukraine is still possible. The dynamic is now circular. Every failure weakens Dmitriev. As Dmitriev weakens, Witkoff's usefulness as his main American interlocutor weakens with him. One source put it directly: "When Dmitriev disappears, Witkoff disappears."
The Ratcliffe Question and the War Party's Windfall
The question neither Kyiv nor Moscow can answer is who replaces this failed channel. John Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow in late August fueled speculation that the CIA director might take on a larger role. The Financial Times reported Trump is considering giving Ratcliffe broader diplomatic responsibilities. But a source familiar with the situation told Kyiv Independent that scenario is unlikely because Moscow considers Ratcliffe too pro-Ukrainian.
Read that again. The Kremlin's objection to Ratcliffe is that he is too pro-Ukrainian. The American peace process in one sentence. Moscow tolerates an envoy who misreads positions, skips protocol, wanders out of meetings, and delivers nothing. The envoy Moscow rejects might actually understand what Ukraine is fighting for.
Two years of Trump's peacemaking has produced no framework, no written agreements, no pressure on Russia, and a special envoy both sides now want gone. The only people who benefited are the Kremlin hawks who used every American stumble to argue that negotiation is pointless and military conquest remains viable. Witkoff did not just fail to deliver peace. He delivered ammunition to the war party in Moscow.