U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe proposed during a secret visit to Moscow earlier this week that the presidents of the United States, Russia and Ukraine hold a three-way meeting, in an effort to revive peace efforts and end the war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.
Axios, citing two sources familiar with the issue, reported that Ratcliffe’s visit on Tuesday was partly aimed at exploring whether Russia’s intelligence chiefs could help persuade President Vladimir Putin to resume U.S.-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.
U.S. officials briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday on the outcome of Ratcliffe’s talks in Moscow, including the proposal for a trilateral meeting.
The Trump administration had previously proposed a meeting involving the three presidents. Zelenskyy expressed support for the idea, while Putin rejected it.
During his visit to Moscow, Ratcliffe met with his Russian counterparts Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service.
Trump told Axios that Ratcliffe’s visit was “routine business”, denying that it was related to warning Moscow against attacking the territory of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
According to the sources, Ratcliffe also discussed the possibility of restarting peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine during his talks in Moscow.
The New York Times reported that Ratcliffe gave Bortnikov a bleak assessment of the course of the war and urged Russia to reach an agreement before its situation deteriorates further.
The sources added that Ratcliffe concluded that Bortnikov was a “constructive” interlocutor who could help revive diplomatic efforts. The CIA declined to comment on the reports.
Meanwhile, Kyiv remains deeply skeptical of Putin’s intentions, saying it has intelligence indicating that Moscow is preparing for a major escalation of the war.
Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, said Friday that Putin had ordered his military to prepare several scenarios for an offensive in northern Ukraine, with Kyiv and Chernihiv identified as two key potential areas of operation.
The developments come as Russia-Ukraine negotiations mediated by the Trump administration have been stalled since mid-February, while contacts between White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and the two sides have yielded little progress.
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, said Thursday that the U.S.-mediated negotiations could resume in September.
Zelenskyy, for his part, thanked the United States on Friday for what he described as the “necessary tone in dialogue with Russia,” saying the Trump administration was presenting “a realistic vision of what needs to be done and what needs to be achieved.”
Axios
