General Discussion

and I think Trump felt that this weekend should see the culmination and a major step forward in his scheming, inasmuch as he's still paying any attention.

Kushner's presence may be more significant than Witkoff's. There have been reports that the Ukrainians have found his input more helpful than Witkoff's, but that's an exceedingly low bar to clear, and they may just be being politely diplomatic. I'd take the American presence as more a case that they don't want to be left totally out of the loop, frozen out by Ukraine's more serious allies who know damn well what Witkoff and Trump et al. are up to.

The chances of a "deal" at this point are zilch. I think everyone knows that except, apparently, Trump. I don't know how often the Russians have to declare bluntly that the only end to the war they're interested in is Ukraine's abject surrender on purely Russian terms before it sinks in.