U.S. officials' Moscow visit may target Israel-Iran axis, not Ukraine war — analyst

Oleksii Buriachenko, political science candidate, professor at Kyiv Aviation Institute State University, and president of the International Institute for Security Studies, expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"Right now, Europe really needs to consolidate—not just to strengthen and protect itself from Russian threats, but also to form a unified, consolidated position to present to U.S. President Donald Trump. Because Putin may perceive this as a green light to finish what he didn't complete, but other authoritarian players in the world, such as China regarding Taiwan, may interpret it the same way," Buriachenko noted.

According to the political analyst, we can already see that the U.S. has backtracked to some extent in its relations with Iran. Although everyone had hoped that after statements by Lindsey Graham and U.S. President Donald Trump himself about aid to protesters being on the way, the actions would be far more decisive.

"And now it's not entirely clear why Witkoff is flying to Moscow. It seems to me that he's going more as a negotiator representing the American side on the Israel-Iran axis, rather than to discuss once again the U.S. peace plan for ending the Russian-Ukrainian war," Buriachenko concluded.

• American special representative Steve Witkoff and the U.S. president's son-in-law Jared Kushner are planning to travel to Moscow in the near future to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.