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Trump’s special envoy will speak to Russian president in renewed diplomatic effort to end war but both sides remain far from an agreement
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Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that the US and Ukraine have agreed on a new 20-point peace deal, as talks between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin began in the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president said that the original 28-point roadmap proposed by the US last month had been reworked into a new agreement following discussions between officials.
“Some things still need to be worked out,” he told reporters on a visit to Dublin, adding that this marked “one of the most challenging and yet optimistic moments at the same time” for peace in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Witkoff arrived at the Kremlin at 2pm to meet Vladimir Putin for talks amid a renewed US push to end the war in Ukraine. He will be joined by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The visit follows a flurry of diplomatic activity in the past fortnight involving US, Ukrainian and Russian officials. An original US-drafted plan to end the war caused consternation in Europe last month after it appeared to yield to Russia’s maximalist demands.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is ready to fight a war with Europe if it is provoked in his latest threat against the West.
The Russian leader said that he did not want a war with European powers but if they did, Russia was ready right now to fight.
He accused Europe of making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine, which Russia finds absolutely unacceptable.
The comments come at the plenary session of the VTB Russia Calling Investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday.
Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, said that he expected allies to make new contributions to the Prioritised Requirements List (PURL) program.
He added that he was confident that US-brokered talks to end the war would “restore peace in Europe”.
Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that the US and Ukraine have agreed on a new 20-point peace deal, as talks between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin began in the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president said that the original 28-point roadmap proposed by the US last month had been reworked into a new agreement following discussions between officials.
“Some things still need to be worked out,” he told reporters on a visit to Dublin, adding that this marked “one of the most challenging and yet optimistic moments at the same time” for peace in Ukraine.
Whether by accident or design, Vladimir Putin has a useful idiot running America. International diplomacy has been turned on its head, enemies made friends, allies threatened, international laws defoliated.
Russian strategic policy, known as the Gerasimov Doctrine, argues that chaos in the ranks of the enemy is victory and a path to greatness. By that standard Putin should be stringing up the bunting in the Kremlin.
He has achieved unimagined strategic effect by manipulating the Trump administration which has contorted itself in its efforts to force a Russian victory on Ukraine and against Europe.
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law have arrived at the Kremlin for talks with Vladimir Putin.
Negotiations began at 2pm GMT, according to the Kremlin. It was unclear how long they will last.
It is the sixth time that Mr Witkoff has visited Moscow since Trump’s re-election.
President Volodymyr Zelensky provided an update on peace negotiations as he said a European counter-proposal to US president Donald Trump’s peace plan had been refined.
“The work was based on the Geneva document, and that document has been refined,” Zelensky wrote on X on Tuesday. He called for more European involvement.
“Our diplomats are actively working with all partners to ensure that European countries and other participants in the Coalition of the Willing are meaningfully involved in developing decisions.”
Nato chief Mark Rutte says that there is no consensus yet on membership for Ukraine.
“The practical situation is, as you know, that there is consensus required by all allies for Ukraine to join Nato. And right now, as you know, there is no consensus on Ukraine joining Nato,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Donald Trump could recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and other occupied territories in an appeasement of the Kremlin’s key demands for a peace deal, according to a report.
The US president is said to have sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Moscow with the expressed intention of offering Vladimir Putin US recognition of the occupied territories in return for a peace deal.
A source told The Telegraph: “It’s increasingly clear the Americans don’t care about the European position. They say the Europeans can do whatever they want.”
Ukraine’s general staff has denied that Russian forces have captured the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.
“The brazen statements of the leadership of the aggressor country about the ‘capture’ of these settlements by the Russian army do not correspond to reality,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
The city is dubbed the “gateway to Donetsk” and is a key location for both sides in military campaigns.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday.
It marks the leaders first state visit to the country. He was joined by his wife Olena Zelenska.
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