Political analyst reveals Witkoff’s key mission during Moscow visit

"It seems this visit is sort of a last chance, an opportunity to talk before the introduction of these restrictive measures. By the way, I expected something like this – that Trump would give Russia such a chance toward the end. He presents it as: 'The Russians asked," Reiterovych said.

The political analyst does not rule out that the Russians may have indeed reached out through closed diplomatic channels with a proposal to talk and find common ground.

"What’s interesting here is that Witkoff, who’s going to Russia, will most likely be used simply as a tool in this case. Unlike previous visits, he’s unlikely to carry any message from Trump. His main task will be to receive something from Putin and pass it on to Trump," Reiterovych added.

According to Reiterovych, this could very well be Russia’s vision of how to end the war — a proposal under which they would be willing to come to the negotiating table.

"On the other hand, this situation is also beneficial for Trump. Do you know why? Because he’ll be able to later come out and say, 'Look, I did everything I could. I sent Witkoff to Moscow again; he had talks, but unfortunately, Putin is holding his ground. What he passed on is unserious,'" the analyst noted.

Reiterovych added that if Putin makes any serious concessions — at least by Trump’s standards — we might see information by the end of the week suggesting that the war could end or that real negotiations might begin.

"I don’t believe the war will end this week, but we might see actual negotiations. Not the nonsense Russia is been doing, but a real conversation primarily about ending hostilities, meaning some kind of ceasefire, followed by talks on other key issues," Reiterovych said.

The analyst also pointed out that, at the same time, another Trump envoy, Keith Kellogg, is reportedly planning to arrive in Kyiv.

"This looks like a kind of shuttle diplomacy on two sides. While I haven’t seen any official announcement regarding Kellogg, since even pro-government media have reported it, I think that everything will also happen in a similar format," he added.

Witkoff’s visit to Moscow

Recently, US President Donald Trump announced that his Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, will visit Russia.

Speaking to reporters, Trump stated that the United States will impose sanctions on Russia. However, he expressed doubt that they would have any real effect on Russia.

"Well, there will be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions. You know, they’re characters and quite good at dodging sanctions. So we’ll see what happens," Trump said.