Putin and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff set for key Ukraine talks in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday, with the White House saying it was “very optimistic” about reaching an agreement to end the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has served as an outside adviser in diplomatic talks, is also expected to attend.

The summit followed two days of talks in Florida between Ukrainian and US officials, including Witkoff and Kushner, aimed at refining a US-backed peace plan that was seen as favorable to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the talks as “constructive”, but said that “there are some difficult issues that still need to be worked out”.

Speaking after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday, Zelensky said Kiev’s priorities in peace talks were to maintain Ukraine’s sovereignty and achieve stronger security guarantees.

Zelensky said the “territorial issue is the most difficult” element of the peace deal, with the Kremlin pressuring Ukraine to cede territory in the east it still controls – Kiev has long maintained it would never do so.

Witkoff also spoke with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Zelensky and Ukraine’s new chief negotiator Rustam Umerov, while several key European leaders joined the Zelensky-Macron meeting virtually.

Speaking on Monday, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said the draft peace accord was “very refined”, adding: “I think the administration feels very optimistic.”

She added: “But as far as the details are concerned, I will let the negotiators talk. But we feel quite good, and we hope that this war can finally end.”

Last week, Putin said he had seen a draft of a peace plan proposed by the US, and that it could become “the basis” of a future agreement to end the war.

However, Kremlin officials later cast doubt on whether the proposal would be accepted after Kiev and European allies said they had secured changes.

The initial US-Russia draft peace plan circulated in November caused consternation in Kiev and across Europe.

While leaning heavily toward Moscow’s demands, it also decided how many billions of frozen Russian assets currently held in European financial institutions should be invested, as well as set the conditions for Ukrainian market access to Europe.

Speaking on Monday, Macron said there was currently “no final peace plan to talk about”, and stressed that any such proposal could only be worked out with the input of Ukraine and Europe.

Macron said the question of territorial concessions “can only be finalized by President Zelensky”, and pointed out that questions of frozen Russian assets, security guarantees and Ukraine’s accession to the EU needed to involve European countries.

The French leader also praised the Trump administration’s efforts to end the conflict, which began with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, followed by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said this week could be “crucial”, but Moscow only wants to negotiate “with people who are giving them something other than what they already have”.

She added: “I’m afraid that all the pressure will be put on the weaker side because that would be the easiest way to stop this war if Ukraine surrenders… but that’s in nobody’s interest.”

Moscow has appeared several times in recent months to join US efforts in the media to broker an agreement to end the war, but many of its demands directly contradict Ukraine’s sovereignty and are considered unacceptable by Kiev.

While the question of territory is the major issue, the issue of security guarantees for Kyiv has also proven controversial.

Kiev and its European partners want Ukraine to be given security guarantees – such as NATO membership – that would protect it from repeat attack.

But Russia has strongly opposed it and Trump has also refused to allow Ukraine to join the military alliance.

The talks in Moscow on Tuesday came as Russian authorities claimed to have captured the key strategic cities of Pokrovsk – known as Krasnoarmeysk in Russian – and Vovshansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged that any cities have fallen to Russia.

According to open-source intelligence projects that continuously monitor the front lines of the war, neither Vovshansk nor Pokrovsk has yet been fully captured by Russian forces.