At the Primakov Readings forum in Moscow on 24 June, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that Russia would not accept temporary ceasefire arrangements or ultimatums on Ukraine, and insisted that the only viable framework remained the “understandings” reached between Presidents Putin and Trump at the Anchorage summit in August 2025. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately described Moscow’s readiness for dialogue as a consistent position, while praising US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for their willingness to listen to all sides.

According to Moscow’s account, the Anchorage meeting produced a US-authored proposal under which Ukraine would withdraw from the remainder of Donbas not under Russian control in exchange for a freeze of battle lines elsewhere. Lavrov said Putin had accepted the proposal as a compromise, but that Washington was now demanding further concessions while itself drifting away from the understandings. Viewed from Kyiv, any territorial concession remains a red line; President Zelenskyy used the G7 summit in Evian to argue that Ukraine was gaining momentum, and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infrastructure, including a Moscow refinery, have intensified. In European capitals, particularly Paris, the Anchorage framework is seen as having been overtaken by events; President Macron reportedly described it as “buried”.

The deadlock is compounded by the absence of a structured US-led diplomatic process. US envoys Witkoff and Kushner have been focused on finalising an Iran deal, and Moscow expects contacts to resume once they become available. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the Trump administration increasingly links progress on bilateral tensions to a Ukraine settlement on Washington’s terms, a shift from the earlier approach. Russia has also offered to facilitate a long-term Iran-US agreement, signalling its interest in a broader diplomatic role. Meanwhile, the G7 summit produced a commitment to tighten sanctions on Russia’s war economy, and Trump stated that Russia “must make a deal”, departing from his earlier rhetoric of shared blame.

No date has been set for the next visit of Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow, though both sides acknowledge the need for continued contacts. Lavrov said Russia wants to hear directly from the US envoys what Washington took away from the Evian summit and how it sees the way forward. For now, the Kremlin maintains its public commitment to the Anchorage parameters while ruling out any interim freeze along the current front line, citing the failed Istanbul process of 2022. The diplomatic track remains open in principle, but the gap between Moscow’s insistence on prior understandings and Kyiv’s refusal to cede territory, reinforced by Western backing, leaves negotiations in a holding pattern.