james charterand
laura goji
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday after the White House said it was “very optimistic” about a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has served as an external advisor in diplomatic talks, is also expected to attend.
The summit followed two days of negotiations in Florida between Ukrainian and U.S. officials, including Witkoff and Kushner, to improve a U.S.-backed peace plan seen as favorable to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the talks “constructive” but said “there are still some difficult issues that need to be resolved.”
Kiev’s priorities in peace talks will be maintaining Ukraine’s sovereignty and ensuring strong security guarantees, Prime Minister Zelenskyy said after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday.
Zelenskyy said “the territorial issue is the most difficult element of the peace deal” as the Kremlin continues to pressure Ukraine to hand over eastern regions it still controls. This is something Kiev has maintained for a long time and will never do.
Witkoff also held talks with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Zelensky and Ukraine’s new chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, while several key European leaders took part in the Zelensky-Macron meeting virtually.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said in a speech Monday that the draft peace agreement had become “very sophisticated,” adding, “I think the administration feels very optimistic.”
She continued: “But we will let the negotiators negotiate the details. But we feel very good and hope that this war can finally end.”
Last week, Putin said he had seen a draft peace plan proposed by the United States and that it could become the “foundation” for a future agreement to end the war.
But Kremlin officials later questioned whether they would accept the offer after Kiev and its European allies said they had secured changes to the proposal.
An initial draft US-Russian peace plan circulated last November caused consternation in Kiev and across Europe.
Not only did it lean heavily toward Moscow’s demands, but it also dictated how billions of dollars of frozen Russian assets currently held in European financial institutions should be invested and how the conditions for access to Ukraine’s markets in Europe should be set.
In a speech on Monday, Macron said there was currently “no final peace plan to speak of” and insisted that such proposals could only be realized with input from Ukraine and Europe.
President Macron said the issue of territorial concessions “can only be finalized by President Zelenskyy,” and pointed out that European countries should participate in issues related to frozen Russian assets, security guarantees and Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
The French leader also praised the Trump administration’s efforts to end the conflict that began with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kaza Kalas, the EU’s chief foreign policy representative, said this week could be “pivotal” but that Moscow wanted to negotiate “only with those who offer something in addition to what they already have.”
She continued: “I am afraid that when Ukraine surrenders, all the pressure will be put on the weaker side because it is easier to stop the war, but this is not in anyone’s interest.”
In recent months, Moscow has appeared at times to intervene in U.S. attempts to broker an agreement to end the war, but some of Russia’s demands are directly opposed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and appear unacceptable to Kiev.
While territorial issues are a major stumbling block, the issue of Kiev’s security guarantees has also proven contentious.
Kiev and its European partners are eager for Ukraine to receive security guarantees, such as NATO membership, to protect it from being attacked again.
However, Russia strongly opposed this, and President Trump also ruled out Ukraine joining the military alliance.
Russian officials opened talks in Moscow on Tuesday claiming they had captured Pokrovsk, known in Russia as Krasnoarmeysk, and Vovshansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials refused to acknowledge that both cities had fallen into Russian hands.
Neither Vovshansk nor Pokrovsk have yet been fully occupied by Russian forces, according to the Open Source Intelligence Project, which continuously monitors the war’s front lines.
