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Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev was born in Kyiv, educated in the US, and reportedly has good relations with Washington officials
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Vladimir Putin is set to send his top negotiator to Washington in a bid to win back the favour of Donald Trump, who is reportedly angry at the Russian autocrat.
Washington officials have acknowledged that Putin is resisting attempts to strike a ceasefire, and discussed what economic or diplomatic punishments could push Russia closer to a deal, the sources said.
It comes following Mr Trump’s explosive reveal that he was “p***** off” with Putin and would look to unleash oil tariffs on Russia if they did not take peace talks seriously.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s Kyiv-born and US-educated envoy, will meet with Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff this week, Reuters reported.
Responding to the reports on X, Mr Dmitriev said: “The resistance to US–Russia dialogue is real—driven by entrenched interests and old narratives. But what if improved relations are exactly what the world needs for lasting global security and peace?”
On Tuesday, two senior Washington sources told Reuters that a peace deal does not seem imminent, despite US efforts.
Meanwhile, half of the US Senate – including 25 Republicans and 25 Democrats – has united to propose sanctions on Russia if it refuses to engage in good faith negotiations with Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that a minerals deal that Ukraine and the US are negotiating doesn’t mention his country’s Nato membership in the future.
“As for this agreement and the Nato question, there is no mention of Nato in this agreement, and there never was,” Mr Zelensky said, confirming earlier reports.
“A decision (regarding the deal) will be made in the coming days.”
His remarks come a few days after a source in the presidential office told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine is “not tying” the minerals deal to Nato.
Officials from the Trump administration are now urging their European allies to keep buying American-made arms – just weeks after Donald Trump asked the EU to take responsibility for its own defence and security.
Five US sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US has made outreach to its EU allies amid recent moves by the European Union to limit US manufacturers’ participation in weapons tenders.
According to two of the sources, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said any exclusion of US companies from European tenders would be seen negatively by Washington, which those two sources interpreted as a reference to the proposed EU rules.
One northern European diplomat, who was not part of the Baltic meeting, said they had also been recently told by US officials that any exclusion from EU weapons procurements would be seen as inappropriate.
Shortly after taking office, Mr Trump urged European allies to spend more on defence and take greater responsibility for their own security, and suggesting that his commitment to Nato is not absolute.
Two people have been arrested after allegedly plotting to blow up a police station in the western city of Lviv on Russian instructions, Ukrainian authorities said.
The suspects were carrying out the “instructions of a Russian representative in exchange for a monetary reward”, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Telegram.
They “arrived in Lviv and retrieved explosives hidden in a bag at specific coordinates”, authorities said. “The defendants were set to plant the concealed explosives in an administrative building at a Lviv police station as part of their prearranged plan.”
One of the perpetrators was a 22-year-old woman and resident of Kyiv who had been looking to ear “easy money” through Telegram channels.
After recruitment by Russian intelligence she was tasked with a “test” assignment, posting Russian propaganda leaflets around Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Donald Trump must not be misled by Vladimir Putin’s “stalling tactics” to delay peace in Ukraine, outgoing German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said during a visit to Kyiv.
“At the upcoming meeting of Nato foreign ministers, we will make it clear to the American side that we should not engage with Putin’s stalling tactics,” the 44-year-old Greens leader said in a statement released after her arrival in the Ukrainian capital.
Mr Putin is “feigning readiness to negotiate but is not moving one millimetre from his position”, she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian terror can only be stopped with pressure from international partners after a missile strike on Kryvyi Rih killed four civilians.
“A targeted Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih. All necessary services are on site, working to mitigate the consequences of the shelling and to help people. Some people are wounded, and they are receiving medical assistance. As of now, it is known that, tragically, four lives were claimed by this strike, all of them civilians. My condolences to their families and loved ones,” he said on Telegram.
Zelensky stressed that everywhere in the world, such strikes are called by the same name – terror.
“What separates us all from at least a complete and unconditional cessation of strikes is the lack of Russia’s consent to end the war, and only the world’s pressure can ensure such consent,” Zelensky said.
Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer who specializes in Russia’s war strategy, told Fox New that Putin’s goal with his latest conscription drive is to prolong the war.
“There’s no ceasefire and no peace plan between Russia and Ukraine to be had,” said Koffler, the author of a best-selling book “Putin’s Playbook.”
“What President Trump seeks is regretfully, unachievable. Putin’s goal is to keep fighting, in order to compel Ukraine to capitulate.
“Now that Germany and France are considering to deploy reassurance forces into Ukraine, Putin is factoring in those numbers, so he is increasing his force’s posture, to deter such a deployment or failing to prevent it by force.”
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