Trump envoy Witkoff reportedly advised Kremlin official on Ukraine peace deal

White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff  Picture: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Donald Trump’sspecial envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg.

In the October 14 phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary, all while advising Mr Ushakov to congratulate Mr Trump and frame discussions more optimistically.

“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Mr Witkoff told Mr Ushakov during the five-minute conversation, according to Bloomberg’s transcript. “But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.”

The envoy also offered tactical guidance on how Putin should raise the subject with Mr Trump, including suggestions about scheduling a Trump-Putin telephone conversation before Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s White House visit later that week.

On Wednesday, Mr Ushakov appeared to confirm the authenticity of the phone conversation, telling Russian state TV that the leak was likely an attempt to “hinder” the talks.

“As for Witkoff, I can say that a preliminary agreement has been reached that he will come to Moscow next week,” Mr Ushakov said.

US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, second left, and US Secretary of state Marco Rubio Picture: Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP

The recording offers direct insight into Witkoff’s negotiating approach and appears to reveal the origins of the controversial 28-point peace proposal that emerged earlier in November.

On the call, Mr Witkoff, who recently helped broker the Gaza ceasefire agreement, suggested Moscow and Washington develop a joint peace framework modelled on that deal. “We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you,” he said.

Mr Ushakov appeared to take some of the advice on board. Mr Putin “will congratulate” and will say: “Mr Trump is a real peace man,” he said.

The heavily criticised 28-point proposal would require Ukraine to cede the entire Donetsk region to Russia, including areas currently under Ukrainian control. Russia has not fully captured Donetsk.

Those territories would become a demilitarised buffer zone internationally recognised as Russian, and the plan would also grant Russia control of Luhansk and Crimea while freezing current battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Mr Putin said this month he believed the US plan could serve as the “basis for a final peaceful settlement”, though the Kremlin maintains it has not discussed the proposal in detail with Washington.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Picture: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

The revelations come as Mr Trump said on Tuesday he was sending Mr Witkoff to meet with Mr Putin in Moscow, and the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, to meet with the Ukrainians – ahead of a possible White House meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on Friday.

“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 said in a Truth Social post.

The US has pushed Ukraine to accept the framework as the foundation for ending the nearly four-year conflict, though Ukrainian officials have insisted they will not recognise Russian control of occupied territories or accept limits on their military forces.

The phone conversation took place as Mr Trump’s stance toward Moscow appeared to be hardening. On the same day as the Witkoff-Ushakov call, Mr Trump voiced frustration with Putin’s unwillingness to end the war, saying: “I don’t know why he continues with this war. He just doesn’t want to end that war. And I think it’s making him look very bad.”

-The Guardian