In the long shadow of a war that has reshaped Europe's eastern edge, American envoys emerged from the Kremlin carrying the fragile currency of diplomatic optimism. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner spent three hours with Vladimir Putin in Moscow before turning toward Kyiv, tracing a path between two capitals that have spent years exchanging fire rather than words. The journey itself — from one warring seat of power to the other — is a small but telling symbol of how far the conversation has traveled, even as the hardest questions about territory, sovereignty, and trust remain unanswered.