Trump says peace plan ‘fine-tuned’ and envoys being sent to Putin and Ukrainians
US president Donald Trump said his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and that he is sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin and army secretary Dan Driscoll to meet Ukrainian officials.
Mr Trump suggested he could eventually meet with Mr Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but not until further progress had been made in negotiations.
“I will be briefed on all progress made, along with vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, secretary of war Pete Hegseth, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles,” Mr Trump added in the social media posting.
“I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this war is FINAL or, in its final stages.”
Mr Trump spoke after Mr Driscoll held talks late on Monday and throughout Tuesday with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to discuss the emerging proposal.
“The talks are going well and we remain optimistic,” Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Tolbert, spokesman for the army secretary, said in a statement.
As the talks were taking place, Russia launched a wave of overnight attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with at least seven people killed in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure.
A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.
Still, Mr Trump expressed a measure of optimism that his administration’s diplomatic efforts could soon lead to a breakthrough.
Mr Witkoff, a real estate developer turned diplomat, has been Mr Trump’s chief interlocutor with Mr Putin, while Mr Driscoll, who is close to Mr Vance, has stepped up his involvement in the administration’s peace push in recent days.
Mr Trump’s plan for ending the nearly four-year war emerged last week. It heavily favoured Russia, prompting Mr Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression but apparently sidelined by Mr Trump in drawing up the proposal, scrambled to steer the negotiations towards accommodating their concerns.
“I think we’re getting very close to a deal. We’ll find out,” Mr Trump said in an aside during the annual White House turkey pardon, a typically light-hearted annual event to mark the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
He added: “I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress.”
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that peace efforts were gathering momentum and “are clearly at a crucial juncture”.
He spoke after senior US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday and a virtual “coalition-of-the-willing” meeting of Ukraine’s European allies took place on Tuesday. Mr Rubio took part in both gatherings.
“Negotiations are getting a new impetus. And we should seize this momentum,” he said during the video-conference meeting of countries, led by France and the UK, that could help police any ceasefire with Russia.
British prime Minister Keir Starmer said of the talks: “I do think we are moving in a positive direction and indications today that in large part the majority of the text, (Mr Zelenskyy) is indicating, can be accepted.”
But Oleksandr Bevz, one of the Ukrainian delegates at the Geneva talks, cautioned it was “very premature to say that something is agreed upon”.
In an interview with The Associated Press (AP) in Kyiv late on Tuesday, he declined to discuss the specifics of any amendments to Mr Trump’s plan, but said the US was aware that the strength of security guarantees for Ukraine would “define the sustainability of the deal” and was “the part making this deal real and enforceable”.
Mr Bevz told the AP earlier that the number of points in the proposed settlement was reduced, but he denied reports that the 28-point US peace plan now consisted of 19 points.
“(The document) is going to continue to change. We can confirm that it was reduced to take out points not relating to Ukraine, to exclude duplicates and for editing purposes,” Mr Bevz said, adding that some points relating solely to relations between Russia and the US were excluded.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that the coalition-of-the-willing meeting showed “solid and encouraging progress” on a peace deal in Ukraine, while criticising Moscow’s latest attack on Kyiv and drone incursions in Romania and Moldova.
“Since pressure remains the only language Russia responds to, we will continue to increase it until there is a genuine willingness to engage on a credible path toward peace,” she said.
Mr Zelenskyy said late on Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become workable”.
He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with Mr Trump.
Rustem Umerov, a senior adviser to Mr Zelenskyy, posted on X on Tuesday that the Ukrainian president hoped to finalise a deal with Mr Trump “at the earliest suitable date in November”.
Russian officials have been reserved in their comments on the peace plan.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was in touch with US officials about peace efforts.
“We expect them to provide us with a version they consider an interim one in terms of completing the phase of co-ordinating this text with the Europeans and the Ukrainians,” Mr Lavrov said.
European leaders have cautioned that the road to peace will be long.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
