According to reports on Tuesday, the US Special Envoy to Ukraine Steve Witkoff advised Russian officials on how to prepare a peace deal on Ukraine to President Donald Trump that would get the Oval Office’s attention, even if the terms were unfavorable to Kyiv.
An audio recording of his dealings with Kremlin top brass, reported by Bloomberg, revealed that
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Witkoff, a close friend of Trump and, like him, a wheeling-and dealing New York property developer, met with Kirill Dmitriev, an economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Florida weeks ago to discuss and begin drafting an agreement that would prioritize Russian interests.
Bloomberg reported that Witkoff is overheard in an audio recording telling Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser, “We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you.”
“Yuri, Yuri,” Witkoff is recorded as saying in a transcript of the Oct. 14 phone call. “Here’s what I would do.”
“Yes, please,” the Russian is heard as saying.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement,” Witkoff responded. “That you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace.”
“Me to you,” Witkoff continued later in the conversation, “I know what it’s going to take to ge a peace deal done… Donestk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron, however, called for a “strong Ukrainian army” without “limitation” after virtual Coalition of the Willing talks on Tuesday.
From week to week, Trump has waivered in his support, leaning towards Kyiv at times, at other times Moscow, as evident in his initial Kremlin-friendly 28-point plan that tells Ukraine to cede all sovereign territory that Moscow wants but does not control currently, but the president has made it clear that he thinks he deserves a Nobel Prize for his peace efforts.
“I think…the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal,” Witkoff told Ushakov.
Witkoff was born in the Bronx, New York, to Russian-Jewish parents, his father a women’s clothing manufacturer, and the son went on to study real-estate law and then build several high-profile buildings in Manhattan.
In another conversation on October 29, Bloomberg wrote, Dmitriev told Ushakov that he could “talk later with Steve” about a paper.
On Tuesday, Trump celebrated on his own social media platform the “tremendous progress” of his team in carving a path to peace in Ukraine and appeared to deny speculation that Russia had authored the controversial initial 28-point plan that was revealed last week.
“The original 28-Point Peace Plan, which was drafted by the United States, has been fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides, and there are only a few remaining points of disagreement,” he said.
What those fine-tuned, so-called “minor changes” to the plan are, has yet to be officially released.
Speaking after a traditional turkey pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden earlier on Tuesday before departing for his home in Florida, the president said that parties were getting “very close” to a possible settlement.
He said that there were a “few remaining points of disagreement” following successive rounds of negotiations but expressed hope that “I think we’re going to get there.”
Responding to the Bloomberg intercepted recordings on Tuesday, the White House said only that Witkoff was “doing his job.”
Trump said Tuesday he is sending Witkoff to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week.
Trump re-iterated on his Truth Social platform that there were “only a few remaining points of disagreement”, but, AFP reports said, European leaders were skeptical, and Russian missiles continued to rain down on Ukraine.
He also expressed hope to meet “soon” with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.”
Trump later told journalists aboard Air Force One en route to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday that Witkoff may be joined in Moscow by the president’s son-in-law and fellow real-estate developer, Jared Kushner.
