By Guy Faulconbridge and Gleb Stolyarov
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on a possible way to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump has said he wants to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two but his efforts so far, including a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, have not yet brought peace.
A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals emerged last week, worrying Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow’s main demands on NATO, Moscow’s control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine’s army.
European powers then gave their counter-proposal for peace and at talks in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war.
PUTIN SEES POSSIBLE ‘BASIS FOR FUTURE AGREEMENTS’
Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, has said the discussions so far are not about a draft agreement but about a set of proposals that he said last week “could be the basis for future agreements”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Witkoff’s meeting with Putin would be in the second half of Tuesday, but he would not be drawn on Russia’s “red lines”, saying megaphone diplomacy was not helpful.
A White House official said Witkoff would be joined by Kushner for his trip to Russia. A Bombardier Global 7500 jet previously used by Witkoff entered Russian airspace on Tuesday, and the Russian news agency Interfax later said it had arrived in Moscow. The plane had taken off from Miami.
Putin has said he is ready to talk peace but that if Ukraine refuses an agreement, then Russia’s forces will advance further and take more Ukrainian territory.
Russia’s invasion in February 2022 involved tens of thousands of troops. Conflict has erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces.
Russian forces control more than 19% of Ukraine, or 115,600 square km (45,000 square miles), up one percentage point from two years ago, and have advanced in 2025 at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps, although Kyiv says the gains have come with heavy Russian losses.
TRUMP, EUROPE, NATO AND BUSINESS WITH RUSSIA
Putin, in video footage released on the eve of Witkoff’s visit, hailed what his commanders told him was the Russian capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine as an important victory after a prolonged campaign.
Ukrainian forces were still holding the northern part of the city and had attacked Russian forces in southern Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian military told Reuters.
U.S. officials say more than 1.2 million men have been killed or wounded in the war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses their losses. The conflict has also caused widespread destruction in Ukrainian towns and cities and forced many people from their homes.
Since the U.S. draft proposals emerged late last month, European powers have been trying to bolster Ukraine against what they see as a punitive pro-Russian peace that could open up Russia to U.S. investment in oil, gas and rare earths and return Moscow to the G8.
Key Russian demands include a pledge that Ukraine would never join NATO, caps on the Ukrainian army, Russian control of the whole of Donbas, recognition of Russian control of the regions of Crimea, Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and protection for Russian speakers and Russian Orthodox believers in Ukraine.
Ukraine says those would amount to capitulation, and leave it prone to eventual conquest by Russia, though the United States has also floated a 10-year security guarantee for Kyiv.
Witkoff, Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, for talks on Sunday at Witkoff’s Shell Bay club near Miami.
“We share the view that the war must be brought to a fair end,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X after talks in Paris. He said on Monday Russia should not be rewarded for a war it started.
Ukraine and European powers depict the war as an imperial-style land grab by Moscow, and have repeatedly warned that if Russia wins the war then it will one day attack NATO members.
Russia has denied any plans to attack NATO, as it denied any plan to attack Ukraine before its full-scale invasion.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Timothy Heritage)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.