The US presidential envoy will reportedly skip the meeting with Ukrainian officials in London
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is heading to Russia for another meeting with President Vladimir Putin later this week, the White House has confirmed.
Witkoff has held multiple rounds of talks with senior Russian officials, including at least three meetings with Putin, and is seen as one of the architects of the rapprochement between Moscow and Washington during Trump’s second presidency. Russian presidential adviser Yury Ushakov confirmed on Tuesday that reports of Witkoff’s upcoming visit were accurate.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists later in the day that both Trump and Witkoff “wanted everybody to know that the negotiations continue.”
“We feel, again, we are hopefully moving in the right direction, and the special envoy Steve Witkoff will be heading to Russia again later this week to continue talks with Vladimir Putin,” Leavitt said.
The White House did not announce Witkoff’s exact travel plans after the Financial Times reported that he would skip a meeting with European and Ukrainian officials to visit Moscow instead.
Washington is expected to present its peace framework in London on Wednesday, following a series of high-level meetings in Paris last week, where Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held discussions with French, British, German, and Ukrainian officials.
Rubio, however, will not attend the latest round of talks due to his “busy” schedule, according to spokesperson Tammy Bruce. Instead, Washington will be represented by General Keith Kellogg, another of Trump’s envoys tasked with direct negotiations with Kiev.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the US proposals could include formally recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and potentially lifting sanctions on Moscow. Meanwhile, the Financial Times claimed that Russia is prepared to halt hostilities along the current front line.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, warned that “a lot of fakes are being published now, including by respected publications,” and urged the public to rely on official sources regarding developments in US–Russian talks on the Ukraine conflict.
Russia has repeatedly stated that any peace deal must address the “root causes” of the conflict, including NATO’s eastward expansion and Kiev’s aspirations to join the US-led bloc. Moscow has also demanded that Kiev recognize not only Crimea, but also the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as part of Russia.
