CIA Director John Ratcliffe at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, Washington, D.C., March 19, 2026 (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)

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EA on WION and Pakistan TV: Putin Tries To Manipulate Trump’s Envoys Witkoff and Kushner

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I joined Ukrainian journalists Daniel Tkiie and Sofia Nazarenko on Friday to evaluate differing approaches from the Trump Administration towards Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

I note last weekend’s visit to Putin by Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who also travelled to Kyiv for the first time. Witkoff gushed about the Russian leader and Kushner declared the possibility of a “win-win” outcome, without any indication of how that would occur.

But we also evaluate the ongoing significance of CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow, seeing the heads of two Russian intelligence agencies. His message for Putin — Russia, under military and economic pressure, will not win and it should return to talks — indicates that some in the Administration are still backing European and Ukrainian security.

That is the context for leaks by US officials that Ratcliffe will not have a higher profile, and Witkoff and Kushner a lower one, in Washington’s efforts.