US diplomacy under fire as Russia escalates attacks on Ukrainian officials

The Witkoff-Kushner visit to Moscow was immediately followed by Russian attacks on Kyiv.

A wounded resident at a Ukrainian apartment building damaged during a Russian air raid in the frontline city of Kramatorsk, September 10, 2026 [Serhii Korovainyi/Reuters]

United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been seen as embarrassing and amateurish after their latest attempt to secure a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, suggesting that European patience with the US administration of Donald Trump is running out.

“Jared Kushner’s incompetence was on full display this weekend,” wrote Slate magazine. “The Witkoff-Kushner circus act is an embarrassment,” said the Daily Telegraph, while the Financial Times titled its story, “Kushner and Witkoff’s blind amateurism.”

list 1 of 4 Russian strike hits shopping centre in central Ukraine

list 2 of 4 Amnesty accuses Russia of trafficking foreigners to fight in Ukraine

list 3 of 4 Putin, Pezeshkian in India for BRICS summit clouded by Iran and Ukraine war

list 4 of 4 Russian strikes kill two in Kyiv as Moscow targets capital’s fuel stations

Washington has pursued negotiations without its European allies since US President Donald Trump cut off military aid to Ukraine and agreed to meet with Putin last year.

Witkoff caused outrage after he openly flattered Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“When we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all,” he told Putin.

Ukraine stopped firing missiles and drones at Moscow between September 5 and 7 to enable the US envoys aircraft to fly safely between the capitals.

Russia also paused attacks as they visited Kyiv.

“Please come more often, so that our people have the chance to live normally,” Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy joked at a media conference with them.

But as soon as Witkoff and Kushner left, Russia showered drones and missiles on Kyiv killing at least four civilians on September 8 and 9.

Russia has shown little sign that it is ready for a deal. Putin’s diplomatic aide, Valery Ushakov, told the US envoys that Moscow was committed to achieving all its goals in Ukraine.

“Russia intends to achieve the goals of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted on September 8.

“Of course, we’re all interested in ending the conflict as quickly as possible. Moreover, it must end on our terms, in order to prevent the possibility of it recurring in the future or spreading into a global conflict,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Vedomosti newspaper two days later. “Nuclear weapons can be used in certain circumstances. This isn’t a scare tactic,” he warned.

Zelenskyy has insisted that only leverage on the battlefield will force Moscow to negotiate.

“Without a strong position on the ground, there will only be ultimatums,” Zelenskyy said this week.

Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv on the fourth anniversary of Ukraine’s Kharkiv offensive, which reclaimed 11,500sq km (4,440 square miles) of northern Ukrainian territory from Russian occupation, including more than 500 settlements.

Shortly after that, Russian forces withdrew from roughly 8,000sq km (3,100 square miles) of territory it had occupied on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the southern region of Kherson, deeming it to be indefensible.

Both actions, along with Russia previously lifting sieges on Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv, reduced the Russian occupation from more than a quarter of Ukrainian territory to less than a fifth.

Since then, Russia has made only marginal gains for mounting losses.

Ukraine’s military leadership said that since the beginning of the war, Russia has suffered 1.5m losses of personnel – both soldiers killed or incapacitated.

This year, Russia has again suffered setbacks, notably during the Oleksandrivka counteroffensive, which reclaimed 745sq km (290 square miles) in the eastern and southern Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Russia has appeared to have escalated its targeting of Ukrainian officials in recent days.

On September 4, a drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s internal security service, the SBU. “The drone was deliberately directed at the office of the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Oleksandr Poklad,” said the SBU.

Ukrainian defence adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said it was a jet-powered Geran-4 Russian drone – one of two launched from the occupied eastern Donetsk region and sent in tandem towards Kyiv.

One of the SBU’s main tasks is to arrest Russian agents guiding enemy artillery and drone strikes on Ukrainian soil. Beskrestnov believed an agent within 5km (3 miles) of SBU headquarters directed the drone intended for Poklad in its final stages.

A soldier from Ukraine’s 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade in the Donetsk region, September 9, 2026 [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]

“I instructed Poklad to respond appropriately, significantly and, if possible, in kind,” said Zelenskyy, later adding that “the geographical areas for the response have been determined”.

On September 8, Russia also came close to blowing up Zelenskyy’s plane as it waited on the tarmac the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.

The plane was carrying Zelenskyy, his wife Olena and Moldovan premier Maia Sandu to Oslo for the funeral of King Harald V.

Norwegian premier Jonas Gahr Store said the plane came close to being hit.

Both incidents came after Zelenskyy warned airlines on September 1 that “Russian airspace is becoming completely dangerous” and was “in effect closing” due to Ukrainian long-range drone operations.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes

Ukraine continued its long-range operations during the past week, targeting Russian oil and military infrastructure.

Between September 4 and 10, Ukraine struck at least seven refineries and gas condensate processing plants, two of them at an unprecedented 3,000km (1,860 miles) range from its border – the Novy Urengoy and Purovsky gas condensate plants, are beyond the Ural Mountains in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamalia.

Closer to home, Ukraine also struck the military airfield at Rostov-on-Don and the Russian port of Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea.

The Ukrainian military said they were “used to supply military personnel in both directions: components and attack UAVs of the Shahed type from Iran to the Russian Federation, [and] explosives, components for drones and ammunition from the Russian Federation to Iran”.

Ukraine sees the attacks as effective, since Russia’s finance ministry reported a $67.9bn deficit for the first eight months of the war. That is one-and-a-half times its deficit during the same period last year and far beyond the $44.5bn deficit budgeted for in all of 2026.

The ministry cited rising expenditures and falling revenues from oil and gas.

Those revenues were 16 percent lower than the first eight months of 2025, at just under $58bn, said Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

The expenditures are almost certainly military. The Intelligence Service assessed that Russia spent a record $126.7bn on defence in the first half of this year. That is 30 percent higher than in the same period of last year, 65 percent higher than in the first half of 2024 and 145 percent higher than in the corresponding period of 2023.

维特科夫-库什纳访问莫斯科之后，俄罗斯立即对基辅发动了袭击。

2026年9月10日，在乌克兰前线城市克拉马托尔斯克，一栋在俄罗斯空袭中受损的公寓楼内，一名居民受伤。[Serhii Korovainyi/路透社]

美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫和贾里德·库什纳在最近一次试图促成俄罗斯在乌克兰战争中停火的努力中表现得令人尴尬和业余，这表明欧洲对唐纳德·特朗普领导的美国政府的耐心正在耗尽。

《Slate》杂志写道：“贾里德·库什纳的无能在本周末暴露无遗。”《每日电讯报》称：“维特科夫和库什纳的闹剧令人尴尬。”而《金融时报》则以“库什纳和维特科夫的盲目业余”为题报道此事。

俄罗斯空袭乌克兰中部购物中心（共4条记录，第1条）

名单2/4：大赦国际指控俄罗斯贩运外国人赴乌克兰参战

普京和佩泽什基扬在印度出席金砖国家峰会，但伊朗和乌克兰战争给峰会蒙上阴影（共4条记录中的第3条）。

俄罗斯空袭基辅，造成两人死亡（共4起），莫斯科袭击目标为首都加油站。

自美国总统唐纳德·特朗普去年切断对乌克兰的军事援助并同意与普京会面以来，华盛顿一直在没有欧洲盟友的情况下进行谈判。

维特科夫公开奉承俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京，引发众怒。

“当我们退休时，我们会拥有很多精彩的故事和美好的回忆，而你的故事将会是其中最精彩的，”他告诉普京。

9月5日至7日期间，乌克兰停止向莫斯科发射导弹和无人机，以便美国特使的飞机能够安全地在两国首都之间飞行。

俄罗斯方面在访问基辅期间也暂停了袭击。

“请多来几次，这样我们的人民就有机会过上正常的生活，”乌克兰领导人弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基在与他们举行的新闻发布会上开玩笑说。

但维特科夫和库什纳一离开，俄罗斯就向基辅倾泻无人机和导弹，在9月8日和9日造成至少四名平民丧生。

俄罗斯几乎没有表现出任何达成协议的意愿。普京的外交助理瓦列里·乌沙科夫告诉美国特使，莫斯科致力于实现其在乌克兰的所有目标。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫9月8日断言：“俄罗斯打算实现此次特别军事行动的目标。”

“当然，我们都希望尽快结束冲突。而且，冲突必须按照我们设定的条件结束，以防止冲突在未来再次发生或演变成全球性冲突，”俄罗斯前总统德米特里·梅德韦杰夫两天后在接受《新闻报》采访时表示。“在某些情况下，核武器是可以使用的。这并非危言耸听，”他警告说。

泽连斯基坚称，只有在战场上取得优势才能迫使莫斯科进行谈判。

“如果没有强有力的地面立场，就只会发出最后通牒，”泽连斯基本周表示。

维特科夫和库什纳抵达基辅时，正值乌克兰哈尔科夫攻势四周年之际。该攻势从俄罗斯手中夺回了乌克兰北部 11,500 平方公里（4,440 平方英里）的领土，其中包括 500 多个定居点。

此后不久，俄军从其在赫尔松南部第聂伯河右岸占领的约 8000 平方公里（3100 平方英里）的领土撤出，认为该领土无法防守。

这两项行动，加上俄罗斯此前解除对基辅、苏梅和切尔尼戈夫的围困，使俄罗斯占领的乌克兰领土从超过四分之一减少到不到五分之一。

自那以后，俄罗斯的损失不断增加，但取得的进展却微乎其微。

乌克兰军方领导层表示，自战争开始以来，俄罗斯已有150万人伤亡——包括阵亡和丧失战斗力的士兵。

今年，俄罗斯再次遭受挫折，尤其是在奥列克桑德里夫卡反攻中，俄罗斯在顿涅茨克州、扎波罗热州和第聂伯罗彼得罗夫斯克州的东部和南部夺回了 745 平方公里（290 平方英里）的土地。

近几日，俄罗斯似乎加大了对乌克兰官员的攻击力度。

9月4日，一架无人机袭击了乌克兰国家安全局（SBU）总部。乌克兰国家安全局表示：“这架无人机是蓄意瞄准乌克兰国家安全局局长奥列克桑德·波克拉德的办公室而来。”

乌克兰国防顾问谢尔盖·别斯克列斯特诺夫表示，这是一架喷气式动力的俄罗斯 Geran-4 无人机——是从被占领的顿涅茨克东部地区发射的两架无人机之一，并同时向基辅方向发射。

乌克兰国家安全局（SBU）的主要任务之一是逮捕引导敌方炮兵和无人机袭击乌克兰领土的俄罗斯特工。贝斯克列斯特诺夫认为，一名距离SBU总部5公里（3英里）以内的特工在最后阶段指挥了原本要袭击波克拉德的无人机。

2026年9月9日，乌克兰第24独立机械化旅的一名士兵在顿涅茨克地区。[Anatolii Stepanov/路透社]

泽连斯基说：“我指示波兰国防军采取适当、有力且尽可能对等的回应。”他随后补充说，“回应的地理区域已经确定”。

9月8日，俄罗斯还差点炸毁了泽连斯基的飞机，当时飞机正停在摩尔多瓦首都基希讷乌的停机坪上。

飞机上载着泽连斯基、他的妻子奥莱娜和摩尔多瓦总理玛雅·桑杜前往奥斯陆参加哈拉尔五世国王的葬礼。

挪威首相乔纳斯·加尔·斯托尔表示，这架飞机险些被击中。

这两起事件都发生在泽连斯基9月1日警告各航空公司“俄罗斯空域正变得完全危险”，并且由于乌克兰远程无人机作业而“实际上正在关闭”之后。

乌克兰的远程打击

过去一周，乌克兰继续开展远程军事行动，目标是俄罗斯的石油和军事基础设施。

9 月 4 日至 10 日期间，乌克兰袭击了至少七家炼油厂和天然气凝析油加工厂，其中两家距离其边境 3000 公里（1860 英里），这是史无前例的——新乌连戈伊天然气凝析油厂和普罗夫斯基天然气凝析油厂位于乌拉尔山脉以西的亚马利亚北极地区。

在乌克兰本土，乌克兰还袭击了顿河畔罗斯托夫的军用机场和里海沿岸的俄罗斯港口马哈奇卡拉。

乌克兰军方表示，他们“过去常常向两国双向输送军事人员：从伊朗向俄罗斯联邦输送‘沙赫德’型无人机的部件和攻击无人机，以及从俄罗斯联邦向伊朗输送爆炸物、无人机部件和弹药”。

乌克兰认为这些袭击是有效的，因为俄罗斯财政部报告称，战争爆发后的前八个月财政赤字高达679亿美元。这相当于去年同期赤字的1.5倍，远远超过2026年全年预算的445亿美元赤字。

该部指出，支出增加而石油和天然气收入下降是主要原因。

乌克兰对外情报局表示，这些收入比 2025 年前八个月减少了 16%，略低于 580 亿美元。

这些支出几乎可以肯定是军事开支。俄罗斯情报部门评估，今年上半年俄罗斯国防开支高达1267亿美元，创历史新高。这比去年同期增长了30%，比2024年上半年增长了65%，比2023年同期增长了145%。