US envoy to meet Putin for Ukraine peace plan talks

Special envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting Vladimir Putin (Terry Renna/AP)

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, taking to the Kremlin an embryonic peace plan that Washington hopes can end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

Coinciding with Mr Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

After months of frustration in his efforts to stop the fighting, US President Donald Trump is deploying officials to get traction for his peace proposals.

So far, the talks have followed parallel lines, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials, and now Mr Witkoff heading to Moscow.

Ukraine is fighting hard to defend territory (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Though this week’s consultations could move the process forward, few details have become public. It remains unclear how envoys are going to bridge the gap between the two sides on such basic differences as who keeps what territory. European officials say the road to peace will be long.

European leaders, who fear Russia’s future territorial ambitions and are trying to figure out how they can fund Ukraine’s fight beyond this year, are trying to make their voices heard after being largely sidelined by Washington. They are also working on future security guarantees for Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he and Mr Zelenskyy, who was on a trip to Paris, spoke by phone to Mr Witkoff. They also spoke to leaders of eight other European countries as well as top European Union officials and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.

Mr Macron said that the coming days will see “crucial discussions” between US officials and Western partners. Mr Zelenskyy’s visit to Paris followed Sunday’s meeting between Ukrainian and US officials, which Mr Rubio described as productive.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks (Christophe Ena/AP)

Diplomats face a hard time trying to bridge Russian and Ukrainian differences and persuading them to strike compromises. The key obstacles — over whether Kyiv should cede land to Moscow and how to ensure Ukraine’s future security — appear unresolved.

Mr Zelenskyy is under severe pressure in one of the darkest periods of the war for his country. As well as managing diplomatic pressure, he must find money to keep Ukraine afloat, address a corruption scandal that has reached the top echelons of his government, and keep Russia at bay on the battlefield.

The Kremlin claimed that Russian forces have captured the key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region but Mr Zelenskyy said that fighting was still ongoing in Pokrovsk on Monday.