Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forward a peace proposal to end the war that involves the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, an offer that Ukraine is unlikely to accept, according to President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“The Russians have put a peace proposal on the table. It involves Donetsk. It may not be, it may not be something that the Ukrainians can take, but no one’s ever made that kind of progress here, and it’s because of his [Trump’s] force of personality and his motivation to end the conflict and the death that we’re at this, this place where we think the end is in sight,” Witkoff, who was one of three U.S. officials who met with Putin along with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Alaska this month, said during his Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report.”
Since returning to the White House, the president has pushed both Ukraine and Russia to agree to a peace deal. But Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart on key concessions, particularly regarding security guarantees and the distribution of territory.
Donetsk and Luhansk are the two regions in eastern Ukraine that make up Donbas. The Russian military has so far taken nearly all of Luhansk, and it controls about 75 percent of the Donetsk region.
Trump told reporters on Monday that “we haven’t even discussed the specifics” of security guarantees regarding Ukraine, adding the U.S. will be “involved from the standpoint of backup. We’re going to help them.”
Last week, the president floated the idea of offering U.S. pilots and warplanes as part of security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump said Europeans are willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force and that “we’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air because nobody has stuff we have.”
The U.S. told European officials in recent days that Washington is ready to provide “strategic enablers” including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), control, command and air defense assets, to allow for a potential European-led deployment of armed peacekeepers, The Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing European and Ukrainian officials who briefed on the discussions.
After meeting with Putin in Alaska earlier this month, and huddling days later with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House, Trump advocated for a bilateral meeting between the Ukrainian leader and Putin. The Kremlin has rejected the proposal.
Witkoff told host Bret Baier on Tuesday that he is meeting with Ukraine’s officials “this week” in New York City and added that the U.S. side is talking with Russian officials “every day.”
“I think that we may end up seeing a bilateral meeting. My own opinion is, is that the President is going to need, going to be needed at the table to finish a deal,” Witkoff said.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, met with Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday, touching on a range of topics, including security guarantees, the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia during the war, ways to compel Russia to “engage in real negotiations” and end the three-and-a-half-year war in Eastern Europe.
“In particular, the discussion concerned sanctions and tariff pressure, the possibility of applying which must remain on the agenda,” Zelensky’s office said.
Witkoff told Baier on Tuesday that Putin told U.S. officials in Alaska that he wants to bring an end to the war.
“He has certainly said that and hopefully he stands, he stands by that,” the special envoy, who has met with Putin five times this year, said on Fox News.
Vice President Vance said over the weekend that sanctions “aren’t off the table,” but emphasized the Trump administration is going to make “these determinations on a case-by-case basis.”
“What do we think is actually going to exert the right kind of leverage to bring the Russians to the table? Now, you said sanctions were not going to lead to a ceasefire. I think that’s obviously correct. If you look at the way the Russians have conducted themselves, they don’t want a ceasefire,” Vance told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker.
Trump on Tuesday dismissed Russia’s questioning of Zelensky’s legitimacy, saying it “doesn’t matter what they say.”
“Everybody’s posturing. It’s all bulls‑‑‑-,” he said during a lengthy Cabinet meeting.
When asked if he would again set a firm timeline for Putin to agree to some kind of ceasefire or have Russia face additional economic penalties, Trump was noncommittal, saying he wants to “see that deal end.”
“It’s very serious, what I have in mind, if I have to do it,” the president added. “But I want to see it end.”
Russia has continued to make advances on the battlefield, conquering two villages, Zaporizske and Novoheorhiivka, in the Dnipropetrovsk region this week, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian government-affiliated group that closely tracks the advancements in the war.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated on Tuesday that it had seized the two villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an area the Kremlin military has crossed into for the first time in June. Ukrainian officials in the region said the fighting has continued.
“Yes, the Russians have entered and are trying to gain a foothold. Ours are fighting to hold their positions,” the spokesperson for Dnipro Regional Administrative District, Viktor Trehubov, told Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine.
The Russian military incursion in the region was carried out by infantry, drones and other military support, DeepStates’s analysts said on Telegram, adding that the Kremlin’s armed forces are now “entrenching themselves,” and gathering additional infantry to potentially advance further in the area.
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