Donald Trump has announced he will dispatch special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and discuss proposals to end the war in Ukraine. The US president said negotiations had left “only a few remaining points of disagreement”, but acknowledged no breakthrough on territorial control or security guarantees, dampening expectations of an imminent peace summit.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that he would meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin only when a final deal was near. Zelenskyy said he was ready to meet Trump as soon as possible, but stressed that European allies must be included in any talks. He told 40 allies that “security decisions about Europe must include Europe”.
Instead of a presidential meeting, Trump will send US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to Ukraine for further discussions. Driscoll, who has taken a central role in negotiations, is expected in Kyiv later this week, according to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak. On Monday night, Driscoll met a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, with talks continuing into Tuesday.
Ukrainian officials said they were close to accepting the framework of a deal, but that some details required presidential discussion. The revised US-Ukraine agreement, prepared in Geneva, raises a proposed cap on Ukraine’s military from 600,000 to 800,000 members. However, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted any peace plan must reflect the “spirit and letter” of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, after which Trump appeared to favour Ukrainian territorial concessions.
Moscow continued its nightly assaults, firing 22 missiles and 464 drones at Ukraine on Tuesday, killing seven. Ukraine refuses to cede the 30% of Donetsk province not yet captured by Russia, which remains a key sticking point. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament the US-Ukraine agreement does not cover territory, and is merely a confirmation of the draft from Geneva.
