Washington/Moscow/Kyiv, November 27: U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, businessman Steve Witkoff, will travel to Moscow next week for talks at the Kremlin aimed at advancing a potential peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, Russian officials said on Wednesday.
The visit was confirmed by Vladimir Putin’s senior foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, coming a day after Kyiv said it had reached a “common understanding” with the White House on the broad contours of a possible settlement. Trump said Witkoff had been tasked with meeting the Russian leader, adding that U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had been dispatched to Ukraine for parallel discussions.
The diplomatic push follows the emergence of a leaked 28-point U.S. draft peace plan last week, which Trump said had since been “fine-tuned with additional input from both sides.” He also signaled that the talks could involve land concessions “both ways,” describing the effort as an attempt to “clean up the border.” Trump said he had set no deadline, adding: “The deadline for me is when it’s over.”
Trump said his son-in-law Jared Kushner may join Witkoff in Moscow, reviving a role Kushner has played in previous White House negotiations.
Russia cautioned that it had not yet received the latest version of the U.S. proposal. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had been broadly open to the initial framework but warned the situation would be “fundamentally different” if key elements had been altered. As of Tuesday, the Kremlin had still not received a copy of the revised draft.
Lavrov accused European governments of undermining U.S. efforts, though he confirmed that Russian officials held meetings with Driscoll in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to meet Trump before the end of the month to address remaining “sensitive points.” He said the draft plan had been slimmed down, with certain provisions removed, and that Ukraine was working closely with Washington to refine the proposal.
“I am counting on further active cooperation with the American side and with President Trump,” Zelensky said. “Much depends on America.”
Key sticking points remain unresolved, including security guarantees for Kyiv and control of eastern Ukrainian regions where fighting continues.
Despite growing U.S. and Ukrainian optimism, European leaders expressed deep scepticism that peace is near. French President Emmanuel Macron said he saw “no Russian will for a ceasefire,” while British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned of “a long way to go.”
Macron and Starmer on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing – a group of Ukraine’s allies preparing to maintain defence support even in the event of a ceasefire. Joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the leaders agreed to form a joint task force to accelerate work on security guarantees for Ukraine.
Russian demands remain largely unchanged. Moscow has insisted Ukraine must withdraw from the entirety of the Donbas region – Donetsk and Luhansk – and recognise Russian control of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as well as occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The initial U.S. draft required Ukraine to cede some areas it still controls, halt NATO ambitions and reduce the size of its military – points that drew criticism in Kyiv and European capitals.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported details of a leaked October 14 call between Witkoff and Ushakov, in which Witkoff allegedly discussed land concessions and suggested how the Kremlin should approach Trump. Asked about the report, Trump said it reflected a “very standard form of negotiations.”
Despite the surge in diplomacy, hostilities continued overnight. Ukrainian officials said at least seven people were injured in Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia. Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin-installed governor, said Ukrainian forces hit power infrastructure in Russian-held areas, leaving up to 40,000 people without electricity.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and millions have been displaced. Trump said he looked forward to meeting Putin and Zelensky “soon,” but only when a peace agreement was “final or in its final stages.”
