CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his covert trip to Moscow this week, in a bid to revive efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Axios reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.Ratcliffe’s visit marked his first personal involvement in the Trump administration’s diplomatic push to break the deadlock between Russia and Ukraine. He met Russian intelligence chiefs Sergey Naryshkin, head of the SVR foreign intelligence service, and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov during his trip on Tuesday.According to the sources cited by Axios, Ratcliffe’s talks partly focused on whether Russia’s intelligence leadership could help persuade Putin to return to US-mediated negotiations with Ukraine.US officials briefed Zelenskyy on Friday about Ratcliffe’s discussions in Moscow and the proposal for a three-way summit. The idea has been raised by the Trump administration previously, with Zelenskyy expressing support while Putin has rejected it.
Ratcliffe seeks opening for talks
Ratcliffe also floated the possibility of restarting peace negotiations, according to the sources. The New York Times separately reported that he gave Bortnikov a bleak assessment of the war and pressed Russia to reach a deal before its position deteriorates further.The Axios sources said Ratcliffe viewed Bortnikov as a constructive interlocutor who could help restart diplomatic efforts. The CIA declined to comment on the discussions.The proposed summit comes as US-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv remain stalled. Talks were paused in mid-February after the war with Iran began, while White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have separately held discussions with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in recent months without making significant progress.Ukrainian officials, however, remain deeply sceptical of Putin’s intentions. Kyiv has said it has intelligence indicating that Russia could be preparing a major escalation.Zelenskyy’s deputy chief of staff, Pavlo Palisa, said on Friday that Putin had ordered the Russian military to prepare several operational scenarios for an offensive in northern Ukraine, including around Kyiv and Chernihiv.At the same time, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov said US-mediated talks with Russia could resume in September.Zelenskyy on Friday appeared to welcome Washington’s latest diplomatic efforts, thanking the US for what he called the “necessary tone” of its conversations with Russia and saying the Trump administration was advancing a “realistic vision” of what needed to be achieved.
