Trump’s envoys appeared star-struck by Putin yet awkward meeting Zelensky, who has spent years fighting for his country’s survival

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

Published 07 September 2026

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE was an army officer for 23 years, reaching the rank of colonel. In 1991, he saw active service in Iraq with the 14th/20th King’s Hussars as part of the First Gulf War, was commanding officer of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, and Nato’s Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. 

As the war in Ukraine creeps towards its fifth year, any serious attempt to end the bloodshed must be welcomed. But there is a world of difference between pursuing peace and demanding that the victim surrender to the aggressor. 

Any attempt to force Kyiv into territorial concessions simply to appease Vladimir Putin would be not only a profound insult to the Ukrainian people, who have sacrificed so much, but a dangerous invitation to a much wider war across Europe.

Putin is on the ropes. The extraordinary spectacle of American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner apparently trying to throw him a lifeline should concern everyone. If this is ultimately an attempt to secure President Trump a few approval points before the midterm elections then the whole enterprise looks shabby and underhand. If there is a serious strategy behind it, it is remarkably difficult to see what it might be.

Look at the optics. Witkoff, Trump’s principal deal-maker, has travelled to Moscow many times but has made only one visit to Kyiv, on Sunday. That is hardly a balanced approach to mediating between two countries, particularly given that the favoured nation invaded the other.

In Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner appeared almost star-struck in the presence of Putin, lavishing the Russian president with smiles, praise and bonhomie. In Kyiv, by contrast, their man-hugs with Volodymyr Zelensky, a wartime leader who has spent nearly four years fighting for his country’s survival, were awkward and embarrassing.

The symbolism was difficult to miss. Witkoff and Kushner flew directly into Moscow on Air Force Two. Zelensky had guaranteed them safe passage into Ukraine, yet because Russia continues to shoot at anything it sees in Ukrainian airspace they could travel only as far as Poland before completing their journey by train.

Despite all the positive noises emanating from Washington and elsewhere, very little has actually changed. Putin continues to demand the whole of Donbas and recognition of the territories Russia has illegally seized since 2014, including Crimea. Zelensky has been equally clear: surrendering sovereign Ukrainian territory to the Russian invader is an existential issue for his nation. Quite frankly, it should be an existential issue for Europe too.

Even the Russian media today appears to understand the reality. Commentators are openly suggesting that Trump needs a quick peace deal far more than Putin does. That, axiomatically, is a pretty good assessment of the balance of leverage.

The Russian strategy remains depressingly familiar. Moscow believes that sustained attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure and civilian life will eventually break Ukrainian morale. We saw precisely this methodology in Syria: hit the population hard and often enough and, eventually, they will demand that their own government surrenders. Schools, hospitals and power stations become legitimate targets in the Russian lexicon because, in the Kremlin’s calculus, terror is a weapon of war.

On the surface, therefore, the picture looks bleak for Ukraine. But it is not the whole picture. Russia has increasingly struggled to defend its cities, and importantly, in the drone war inside Russia itself, Ukraine has achieved something approaching local air superiority. I am no air-power theorist, but having commanded armoured forces, I know one fundamental truth: control of the air is one of the fastest ways to success on the battlefield.

And beyond the battlefield, the Russian economy is creaking. Even Russian newspapers are increasingly talking about poverty and economic hardship. The Kremlin can hide casualties, censor bad news and manufacture propaganda, but it cannot indefinitely conceal an economy that is struggling to sustain a war machine consuming enormous quantities of men and matériel.

The Witkoff-Kushner circus act therefore risks confirming what many of us have increasingly feared: that America’s support for Ukraine under President Trump remains more hot air than hard military power. If Washington will not shift the dial, Europe must.

There are already clear signs that European nations are prepared to do so. British-made drones are having an increasingly significant effect in the deep battle against Russia, demonstrating once again that European technology and ingenuity can make a real difference.

We should also not forget that we are already in a developing hybrid war with Russia. Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is always happy to pour petrol on the embers of confrontation and has once again warned that a wider war in Europe is possible. We should take him seriously.

The responsibility now falls squarely on Europe. Together we have the economic weight, the industrial capacity and, increasingly, the military technology to change the balance. What Ukraine needs this winter is not sympathetic words from Western politicians but interceptors, drones, ammunition, air-defence systems and everything else required to withstand another Russian campaign against its civilian infrastructure.

If we provide that support, Ukraine can continue to fight from a position of strength. And that is the only basis upon which a durable peace can be built.

Two can play at bringing misery, after all. Perhaps, if Europe finally finds its backbone, the question by spring will be whether the Russian people are prepared to endure another year of Putin’s disastrous war and whether it is Moscow, rather than Kyiv, that is looking for a new leader.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon served as part of Britain’s armoured forces in the 1991 Gulf War and later commanded the 1st Royal Tank Regiment. His latest book, Tank Command, is out now