U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking to the Kremlin an embryonic peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
After months of frustration in his efforts to stop the fighting, U.S. President Donald Trump is deploying officials to get traction for his peace proposals. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will join the meeting between Putin and Witkoff, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said that the talks would take “as long as needed” and will involve only Witkoff, Kushner and an interpreter from the U.S. side.
So far, the talks have followed parallel lines, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials, and now Witkoff heading to Moscow.
Zelenskyy said that he met Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation that returned from the latest round of negotiations with the U.S. representatives in Florida. Rubio said that those talks made progress, but added that “there’s more work to be done.”
Zelenskyy said that the Florida talks took as their cue a document that both sides drafted at an earlier meeting in Geneva. The Ukrainian leader said that document was now “finalized,” although he didn’t explain what that meant.
Ukrainian diplomats are working to ensure that European partners are “substantially involved” in decision-making, Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, and warned about what he said were Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at steering the negotiations.
“Ukrainian intelligence will provide partners with the information we have about Russia’s true intentions and its attempts to use diplomatic efforts as cover to ease sanctions and block important collective European decisions,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy was meeting with political leaders and lawmakers in Dublin on his first official visit. Ireland is officially neutral and isn't a member of NATO, but has sent nonlethal military support to Ukraine. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to Ireland since Russia launched its war on Feb. 24, 2022.
Though this week’s consultations could move the process forward, few details have become public. It remains unclear how envoys are going to bridge the gap between the two sides on such basic differences as who keeps what territory. European officials say the road to peace will be long.
European leaders, who fear Russia’s future territorial ambitions and are trying to figure out how they can fund Ukraine’s fight beyond this year, are trying to make their voices heard after being largely sidelined by Washington. They are also working on future security guarantees for Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he and Zelenskyy, who was on a trip to Paris, spoke by phone with Witkoff. They also spoke to leaders of eight other European countries as well as top European Union officials and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Macron said that the coming days will see “crucial discussions” between U.S. officials and Western partners. Zelenskyy’s visit to Paris followed Sunday’s meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. officials, which Rubio described as productive.
Diplomats face a hard time trying to bridge Russian and Ukrainian differences and persuading them to strike compromises. The key obstacles — over whether Kyiv should cede land to Moscow and how to ensure Ukraine’s future security — appear unresolved.
Zelenskyy is under severe pressure in one of the darkest periods of the war for his country. As well as managing diplomatic pressure, he must find money to keep Ukraine afloat, address a corruption scandal that has reached the top echelons of his government, and keep Russia at bay on the battlefield.
The Kremlin late Monday claimed that Russian forces have captured the key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Zelenskyy, however, said in Paris that fighting was still ongoing in Pokrovsk on Monday.
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