KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts pick up speed to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, insisted that Kremlin officials haven’t officially received the initial U.S. peace proposal, although they have acknowledged that they have seen a copy obtained through back channels. Representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine held talks earlier this week in the United Arab Emirates.
“Contact is ongoing, including via telephone, but no one has yet sat down at a roundtable and discussed this point by point. That hasn’t happened,” Ushakov told Russian state media.
Ukrainian officials didn’t confirm whether U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who in recent weeks has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts, would be in Kyiv in the coming days, as U.S. President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday.
Russia cautious on peace prospects
Trump’s plan for ending the war became public last week, setting off diplomatic maneuvering. The initial version appeared heavily slanted toward Russian demands for halting Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.
After weekend talks in Geneva between U.S. and Ukrainian officials, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the plan could be “workable,” although key points remain unresolved. A Ukrainian official said Zelenskyy hoped to meet with Trump in the coming days.
Witkoff’s role in the peace efforts came under a renewed spotlight Tuesday when a report indicated that he coached Ushakov, the Putin aide, on how Russia’s leader should pitch Trump on the Ukraine peace plan.
Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters Tuesday night. “That’s what a deal maker does.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that he “wouldn’t exaggerate (the) significance” of the leaked call, Russian state news outlet Tass reported.
However, “it’s clear that there will be a very large number of people in various countries, including the United States, who will try to disrupt these efforts toward peace,” Peskov said from Kyrgyzstan, where Putin traveled this week.
Asked whether a peace agreement is closer than ever, Peskov told reporters, “It’s a little too early to say that,” according to Tass.
Russian drones hit a Ukrainian college dorm
The southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia came under a large Russian drone attack overnight, damaging more than 50 residential buildings, including a university dormitory filled with people, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said Wednesday.
The attack wounded at least 19 people, he said.
