European and American officials have come to accept that the conflict in Ukraine could stretch into next year, while acknowledging that Washington's latest peace initiative has failed to gain traction with Russian President Vladimir Putin. European officials familiar with the matter indicate Putin intends to escalate attacks on Ukraine throughout the winter months, aiming to test Kyiv's defensive capacity and the resolve of its Western backers.

According to the officials, US President Donald Trump's envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, held talks over the weekend in Moscow and Kyiv respectively, yet these discussions yielded no significant breakthroughs. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in an audio message on Tuesday that Putin and Trump conducted a roughly one-hour phone conversation that day, during which they engaged in a "constructive and rather frank" exchange regarding the outcomes of the envoys' visits. Both leaders agreed to remain in contact.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed in an audio message to reporters on Tuesday his hope of meeting with Trump by the end of September. Zelenskyy added that Ukraine will continue discussions with American and European allies at the level of national security advisors, and Kyiv aims to hold further trilateral talks with Washington and Moscow this autumn.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday, as reported by Interfax, that Russia looks forward to resuming trilateral negotiations involving Ukraine and the United States, and remains open to resolving the war through peaceful means. Under any agreement to end the conflict, Putin seeks to secure full control over the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has repeatedly refused to surrender the defensive belt of cities in that area, which Russian forces have failed to capture in combat since 2014. Ukraine, for its part, has proposed a ceasefire along the current front lines to facilitate negotiations.

The White House directed Bloomberg to its statement released on Saturday, which noted that the US envoys "discussed a substantive plan for next steps" during their meeting with Putin. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.