Trump Says He’s Sending His Envoys To See Putin And Ukrainians After Fine-tuning Plan To End War

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump His plan to end the war in Ukraine is as follows, he said on Tuesday: “fine tuned” and sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will meet with Ukrainian officials.

He said he may eventually meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but not until more progress is made in negotiations.

“I will be briefing Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on all progress,” Trump said in his social media post. “I look forward to meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the agreement to end this War is FINAL or in its final stages.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday evening, Trump said the war was difficult to resolve because there was “so much hatred” and “standard” disagreements about the plan to stop the war.

“People are starting to realize this is a good deal for both sides,” Trump said. He said he believes Witkoff will meet Putin in Moscow next week and that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also has the potential to attend the meeting.

The president downplayed the element of his plan that would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, suggesting that Russian forces could already seize the territory they seek.

“If you look at the way it’s going, it’s only going one way,” Trump said. “So ultimately this is land that could fall into Russian hands in the next few months.”

At the heart of Trump’s plan is his call for Ukraine to hand over the entire eastern Donbas region, although much of this territory remains under Ukraine’s control. Analysts at the Independent Institute for the Study of War estimate that, based on the current rate of advance, it will take several years for the Russian military to completely capture the region.

Trump spoke after Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, late Monday and throughout Tuesday to discuss the emerging proposal.

“Talks are going well and we remain optimistic,” Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert, a spokesman for the secretary of the Army, said in a statement.

While the talks were ongoing, Russia launched a wave of attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, overnight; At least seven people died in the attacks, which hit city buildings and energy infrastructure. Three people were killed and homes damaged in a Ukrainian attack on southern Russia, officials said.

Still, Trump expressed some optimism that his administration’s diplomatic efforts could lead to a breakthrough soon. Witkoff, A real estate developer turned diplomat became Trump’s chief interlocutor with Putin; Driscoll, who is close to Vance, has increased his involvement in the administration’s peace efforts in recent days.

Trump’s plan Claims about ending the war, which has been going on for nearly four years, emerged last week. IT He preferred Russia very muchHe encouraged Zelenskyy to quickly contact American negotiators. European leaders afraid to face their own future Russian aggression but he had apparently been sidelined by Trump in drafting the proposal, trying to steer negotiations toward addressing his concerns.

“I think we’re very close to a deal. We’ll find out,” Trump said during the annual turkey pardon at the White House, an often joyous event held annually to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that peace efforts were gaining momentum and “they are clearly at a very important point.”

He spoke after senior US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva A virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting between Ukraine’s European allies on Sunday took place on Tuesday. Rubio attended both meetings.

“Negotiations are gaining new momentum. And we must catch up with this momentum,” he said at a video conference meeting attended by countries led by France and Britain that could help police any ceasefire with Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said of the talks: “I think we are moving in a positive direction and there are signs today that the majority of (Zelenskyy’s) text can be broadly accepted.”

But Oleksandr Bevz, one of the Ukrainian delegates attending the Geneva talks, warned that it was “too early to say that anything has been agreed upon.”

He declined to discuss details of any changes to Trump’s plan in an interview with The Associated Press in Kiev late Tuesday, but said he was aware that the strength of U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine “will define the sustainability of the agreement” and is “the piece that makes this agreement real and feasible.”

Bevz had previously told the AP that the number of points in the proposed solution had been reduced, but he denied the news in this direction. 28-item US peace plan it now consisted of 19 points.

“(The document) will continue to change. We can confirm that it has been reduced by removing points not related to Ukraine, excluding duplicate copies and for editing purposes,” Bevz said, adding that only some points related to relations between Russia and the United States were excluded.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that the willing meeting coalition had made “solid and encouraging progress” on a peace deal in Ukraine, while criticizing Moscow’s latest attack on Kiev and drone strikes on Romania and Moldova.

“Since pressure remains the only language to which Russia will respond, we will continue to increase pressure until there is a real willingness to embark on a credible path towards peace,” he said.

Zelenskyy said late Monday that “the list of steps necessary to end the war may become feasible.” He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” unresolved issues with Trump.

Rustam Umerov, a senior advisor to Zelenskyy, shared on X on Tuesday that Zelenskyy hopes to finalize a deal with Trump “at the earliest convenient date in November.”

Russian officials have been reserved in their comments on the peace plan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was in contact with US officials about peace efforts.

“We expect them to present us a version of this text that they consider provisional in order to complete the coordination phase with the Europeans and Ukrainians,” Lavrov said.

European leaders have warned that the road to peace will be long.

Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram that Russia fired 22 missiles of various types and more than 460 unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine overnight. Strikes cut off water, electricity and heat in parts of Kiev. Images show a large fire spreading through a nine-storey residential building in the Dniprovskyi district in eastern Kiev.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said 20 people were injured in Kiev. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it targeted military-industrial facilities and energy assets. The ministry said the attacks were in response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian facilities in Russia.

Liubov Petrivna, a 90-year-old resident of a damaged building in the Dniprovskyi district, told the AP that “absolutely everything” in her apartment was shattered and “glass rained down” on her due to the strike.

Petrivna said he does not believe in the peace plan currently being discussed.

“No one is going to do anything about it,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop until we finish our job.”

Ukraine’s overnight drone attack on Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar was “one of the longest and largest attacks” and injured six people, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.

Russian air defense destroyed 249 Ukrainian drones overnight over various regions of Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

Ukraine said its drones and missiles hit an aviation repair facility and a drone production facility, as well as an oil refinery and an oil terminal.

By AP’s count, it was Ukraine’s fourth-largest drone strike against Russia since the war began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Isobel Koshiw reported from Kiev, Ukraine. John Leicester in Paris, Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, Chris Megerian in Washington and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.