WASHINGTON, DC – As Russia denounces Western security plans and, on Thursday, unleashes another deadly round of strikes on Ukrainian cities, the Trump orbit is keeping publicly silent – even as private diplomacy accelerates behind the scenes.
US officials declined to respond Thursday after Moscow issued a blistering rejection of emerging peace proposals and European security guarantees for Ukraine.
Kyiv Post reached out to multiple Trump administration officials seeking comment on Russia’s latest statements but received no reply.
The silence, according to one Trump ally, is deliberate. Russia “says many things,” the person said – a familiar refrain in Trump world when Moscow escalates its rhetoric.
Yet while public reaction is muted, diplomatic activity is not.
Trump eyes another Zelensky meeting
According to diplomatic sources, the White House is considering another high-level meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in the coming days.
A final date has not been set, but planning discussions are underway.
Zelensky raised mid-January during his recent meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, proposing a joint visit to Washington for talks alongside European counterparts.
If scheduling does not allow for a meeting next week, sources said the gathering could shift later this month to the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The potential talks come as Kyiv presses for formal security guarantees and as Moscow signals little willingness to compromise.
Zelensky said Thursday that an agreement between the US and Ukraine on security guarantees is “essentially ready” to be finalized with Trump.
In a social media post, the Ukrainian president said Ukrainian, US, and European officials have spent the week in Paris hammering out the details of a peace framework to present to Moscow.
He said he expects the American side to engage Russia on the document and report back on whether “the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war.”
Early signs from the Kremlin suggest the answer may be no.
Moscow: ‘Axis of war’
In a lengthy and sharply worded statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry lashed out at security agreements signed earlier this week by the so-called Coalition of the Willing – including commitments by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to deploy troops to Ukraine if Russia reinvades in the future.
“The new militarist declarations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing and the Kyiv regime are forming a true Axis of war,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote.
Russia formally rejected the idea of European peacekeepers just hours before launching a new wave of strikes across Ukraine.
The US has stopped short of endorsing the coalition’s commitments, with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff saying only that Trump “strongly stands behind security protocols,” avoiding any pledge to deploy American forces.
Missiles underscore the stakes
As diplomats debated guarantees in Paris, Russia delivered its response on the battlefield.
At least three people were killed and at least 13 injured in a Russian strike on Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. One of the victims was a medic responding to a building hit by a drone, only for the same building to be struck again moments later.
Air raid sirens sounded nationwide as missile warnings spread across Ukraine. In the western city of Lviv, Russian strikes hit critical infrastructure, according to Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, with emergency crews working to extinguish fires.
The attacks marked Russia’s second consecutive night of strikes and came hours after Moscow dismissed European peacekeeping proposals – reinforcing doubts in Kyiv and Western capitals that the Kremlin is negotiating in good faith.
‘Endless papers cannot heat a high-rise’
Humanitarian groups warn that Russia’s strategy is increasingly focused on winter warfare.
“While diplomatic frameworks and long-term security pledges continue to circulate in Western capitals, a far more visceral reality is unfolding on the ground,” Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of US-based Hope For Ukraine, told Kyiv Post.
Boyechko said Russia is systematically dismantling Ukraine’s energy grid in densely populated cities including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhzhia, trapping millions in sub-zero temperatures.
“This is no longer just a war of attrition; it is a calculated attempt to break the nation’s backbone by freezing its civilians,” he said. “Endless papers cannot heat a high-rise or intercept a cruise missile.”
He warned Ukraine is one major blackout away from a humanitarian disaster no treaty could reverse, urging Western governments to accelerate deliveries of air defense systems and grid-stabilizing equipment.
Witkoff faces scrutiny at home
Even as Witkoff plays a central role in Ukraine diplomacy abroad, he is facing growing scrutiny in Washington.
House Democrats, led by Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, vice ranking member Gabe Amo, and Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia, have demanded an investigation into potential conflicts of interest tied to Witkoff’s business dealings.
In a letter to inspectors general at the State and Commerce Departments, the lawmakers cited public reporting suggesting Witkoff continues to hold a financial interest in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm he co-founded in 2024 with his sons and members of the Trump family, even after assuming his envoy role.
They warned that the company’s growing ties to foreign financial backers – including from countries Witkoff negotiates with – raise serious national security concerns.
Quiet diplomacy, loud war
For now, Trump world is offering few public answers – on Moscow’s threats, on Witkoff’s finances, or on when Trump might next sit down with Zelensky and Europe’s leaders.
But as Russian missiles continue to fall and winter tightens its grip, the contrast between quiet diplomacy and a loud, escalating war is becoming harder to ignore – and increasingly difficult to sustain.
In Washington, the calculus is as much about optics as strategy, with every unanswered question magnifying the stakes.
Meanwhile, Kyiv bears the brunt of both Russian aggression and the slow churn of diplomatic engines – a stark reminder that the theater of war often moves faster than the corridors of power.