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The Kremlin is still adjusting its rhetoric in response to the Trump administration’s recent rejection of Russia’s negotiating tactics and its recognition of Ukraine’s battlefield successes, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UATV English reports.
According to the report, on July 9, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov sought to downplay U.S. President Donald Trump’s July 7 decision to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot missiles, stating that the United States had always provided military assistance to Ukraine. Peskov added that the Kremlin views Trump’s statements as a “misunderstanding” rather than an escalation. He also said that Trump did not speak by phone with Vladimir Putin on July 8, while emphasizing that Putin remains open to talks with Trump.
On July 8, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova repeated the Kremlin’s position that the United States remains uninterested in promoting European security and that European countries are preparing for a prolonged conflict with Russia.
“The responses by Peskov and Zakharova indicate that the Kremlin has not yet developed a coordinated information response to the Trump administration’s recent efforts to counter Russian narratives. For example, on July 6, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that no written agreement had been reached following the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska in August 2025, undermining Russia’s attempts to use the summit as leverage in negotiations,” the analysts wrote.
Senior U.S. officials have also recently acknowledged Ukraine’s tactical and operational successes, contradicting the Russian narrative that its forces are advancing along the entire front line.
“The Kremlin appears to be attempting to downplay recent developments, including the significance of the Patriot licensing agreement, in order to preserve opportunities for negotiations with the United States in the hope that Russia can still secure concessions from Ukraine and its partners,” ISW concluded.
As previously reported, the U.S. administration is preparing to grant Ukraine licensing rights to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.
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