Kremlin confirms US envoy's visit as Russia-Ukraine peace talks gain momentum

A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed.

But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, insisted that Kremlin officials still have not seen a U.S. peace proposal, even though representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine held talks in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.

“Contact is ongoing, including via telephone, but no one has yet sat down at a round table 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 Trump indicated Tuesday.

Trump’s plan for ending the war became public last week, setting off a spate of diplomatic maneuvering. The initial version appeared heavily slanted toward Russian demands for halting its invasion of its neighbor. After weekend talks in Geneva between U.S. and Ukrainian officials, Ukraine 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 coming days.

Witkoff’s role in the peace efforts came under a renewed spotlight Tuesday when a report indicated he coached Ushakov, the Putin aide, on how Russian 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 aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”

Russia’s grim war of attrition in Ukraine continued as a backdrop to the diplomatic jockeying.

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 injured at least 19 people, he said.

Russian air defenses, meanwhile, downed 33 Ukrainian drones overnight over various Russian regions and the Black Sea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

European countries, who are alarmed by Russia’s aggression and see their own future at stake in negotiations over Ukraine, are fighting to make their voice heard in the talks as the United States takes the lead.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday that Europe wants the war to end as quickly as possible.

“But an agreement negotiated by great powers without the approval of the Ukrainians and without the approval of the Europeans won’t be a basis for a real, sustainable peace in Ukraine,” he told lawmakers in Berlin.

“Europe is not a plaything but a sovereign actor for its own interests and values,” he said.

The head of the European Union’s executive, Ursula Von der Leyen, was upbeat about recent developments, saying there is “an opportunity here to make real progress” toward peace.

She insisted that any settlement must include future security guarantees for Ukraine. At the same time, she said a deal cannot contain limitations on Ukraine's armed forces or block its path to NATO membership. Those limits were part of the initial proposal.

“As a sovereign nation, there can be no limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces that would leave the country vulnerable to future attacks,” she said during a speech at European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

“This is as much about deterrence as it is about Europe’s security, because Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security.”

___

McNeil reported from Brussels. Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

___