Envoys for United States President Donald Trump are due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Washington’s proposed peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.
In advance of the meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, the White House said it was “very optimistic” about reaching a deal. However, Ukraine remains wary that despite meetings with US officials on Sunday and Monday, the proposal still reflects Russian demands that are difficult to accept.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, alongside the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, travels to the Russian capital as part of the renewed US diplomatic push to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, which was triggered in February 2022 when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Trump, who had promised to resolve the conflict quickly during his election campaign, has expressed frustration that achieving that result has proved more difficult than planned.
Last week, a 28-point draft proposal was leaked. It quickly earned condemnation as a Russian “wish list” as it called for Ukraine to give up huge territory, limit its military, and abandon efforts to join NATO.
The plan has since been altered, first with input from Kyiv alongside its European allies and then on Sunday and Monday in meetings between Ukrainian and US officials.
The full details of the proposal as it stands have not been disclosed.
However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday evening that preserving Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” remains the “biggest challenge” in ongoing negotiations.
Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to talk peace and that Moscow is generally OK with the latest US proposals as a “basis for future agreements”.
However, he has also threatened that if Ukraine refuses an agreement, Russian forces will continue to advance.
Russian troops have made some headway in recent months on the front line in eastern Ukraine, which has seen little movement over years of attritional conflict.
“Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease. If they don’t leave, then we shall achieve this by armed means. That’s it,” Putin said last week.
Speaking about Witkoff and Kushner’s upcoming visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to specify Russia’s red lines, saying megaphone diplomacy was not constructive.
However, Moscow has long reiterated that it will not agree to any ceasefire that does not meet its maximalist demands, which Kyiv and its allies warn would put Ukraine at its mercy.
‘Looks better’
Following discussions in Paris with European and US officials on Monday, Zelenskyy said the latest peace plan “looks better” but that points regarding Ukrainian control over its territories are “the most complicated” issue.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking alongside Zelenskyy at a joint news conference in Paris, said the flurry of diplomatic activity could be “a moment that could be a turning point” but reiterated “Ukraine must be the one to decide its own territorial boundaries”.
Russian forces control more than 19 percent of Ukraine, up one percentage point from two years ago. This year, however, they have advanced at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.
Putin’s military commanders told him on Monday that Russian forces had captured the strategic front-line town of Pokrovsk.
However, Ukraine refuted that claim on Tuesday, saying its forces still control the northern part of of the key logistics hub and were mounting assaults on Russian positions in the south.
US officials say more than 1.2 million men have been killed or injured in the war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses their losses.
