A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times.
Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to meet Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The White House has confirmed that the pair would travel to Russia following Mr. Witkoff’s meeting on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his national security adviser, Rustem Umerov.
During the meeting, Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Umerov briefed the Ukrainian president on the details of a discussion held in Miami the day before with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The renewed talks follow the leak of a 28-point U.S.-backed Ukraine peace proposal that alarmed Kyiv and Washington’s allies last month. The draft, allegedly written by Mr. Witkoff with help from Russian diplomats, would force Ukraine to concede contested regions to Russia, give up its goal of joining NATO and commit to reducing its military.
Those provisions are in line with what Russia has said will end the war. Mr. Zelenskyy has previously rejected such provisions, arguing that agreeing to them would amount to capitulation and open the door to a future Russian invasion.
Following the leak, U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats met in Geneva on Nov. 23 to discuss a European counterproposal. After the meeting, Mr. Rubio insisted that major progress had been made toward peace, with only a few remaining issues to be resolved.
Amid the high-stakes talks, Russia has insisted that it has not seen a revised version of the peace plan and stated it expects the U.S. to inform Moscow when it has finished its conversations with Europe and Ukraine.
Securing a peace deal in Ukraine would be a major victory for the Trump administration, which has made ending the nearly four-year-old war one of its main foreign policy goals. Mr. Trump has repeatedly called on Russia to join Ukraine at the negotiating table, but has not been successful in getting Mr. Putin to ease his demands for Ukrainian territory and restrictions on Kyiv’s military.
The leaders had agreed to hold a summit in Hungary, but the meeting has not yet materialized.
Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner’s visit comes during a vulnerable time for Ukraine, as Russian forces continue to steadily advance along the front. Authorities reportedly informed Mr. Putin on Monday that troops had officially captured the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which had served as a logistics hub for the Ukrainian military.
Russia has also intensified its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure to put further strain on the country as the winter cold picks up.
