Trump supports Witkoff after it was revealed that the envoy was mentoring Russia
Trump supports Witkoff after it was revealed that the envoy was mentoring Russia.
US President Donald Trump has defended Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, as doing the "standard thing" in response to a leaked video that seemed to show him giving advice to a Russian official on how to make a plea to the president.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that although he had not heard the audio, Witkoff was "selling" the peace plan to both Russia and Ukraine by doing "what a dealmaker does."
Days after the US published a 28-point draft peace proposal that essentially mirrored Russian stances on its full-scale war in Ukraine, the leaked call from last month surfaced.
Witkoff will see Russian President Vladimir Putin once more next week after making multiple trips to Moscow this year.
Although other US officials have visited including US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll visited Kyiv last week, he has never travelled there in his capacity as special envoy. Trump has stated that he will have more discussions with the Ukrainians.
Following criticism from Ukrainian and European officials that the original draft plan was too advantageous to Russia, diplomatic negotiations have proceeded. A transfer of Ukrainian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine to Russia was one of the recommendations.
Since then, the plan has been updated to better represent Ukraine's interests and those of its European partners. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has declared that he is prepared to meet with Trump to talk about unresolved "sensitive points."
Next week, Trump's envoy will meet with the Kremlin to discuss a peace proposal for Ukraine.
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Analysis Ukraine may finally accept an updated peace proposal.
Witkoff seemed to counsel Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov on how to win over Trump in the leaked audio clip that Bloomberg was able to obtain and post as a transcript.
The purported call on October 14 has not been independently confirmed by BBC News, but Trump claimed it was a "very standard form of negotiations."
The two men apparently discussed ending the war during the leaked discussion, with Ushakov enquiring as to whether it would be beneficial to have their superiors, Putin and Trump, speak.
According to Witkoff, "my guy is ready to do it" before offering advice on how to handle the call.
"Just reiterate that you congratulate the president [Trump] on this achievement... that you respect that he is a man of peace and you're just, you're really glad to have seen it happen," Witkoff was quoted as saying. "I think from that it's going to be a really good call."
"I told the president that you - that the Russian Federation has always wanted a peace deal. That's my belief," Witkoff continues in the transcript. "The issue is is that we have two nations that are having a hard time coming to a compromise."
"I'm even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza," Witkoff says.
As the call comes to a close, Witkoff informs Ushakov that Zelensky will soon be visiting the White House and that Trump and Putin should speak "if possible" before the meeting.
The US and Russian presidents then had a two-and-a-half-hour phone conversation, which was revealed last month while Zelensky was en route to Washington.
Prior to the Trump-Putin call, the US president seemed to be losing patience with his Russian counterpart and had hinted that he would give Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The mood seems to have shifted by the time Zelensky entered the White House. Trump stated that he thought Putin "wants to end the war" and that providing Kyiv with Tomahawks could intensify the battle.
When questioned about the call's release, Yuri Ushakov told Russian state media that it was "unlikely" to be done to enhance ties and that it was done to "hinder, probably."
Additionally, he affirmed that a "preliminary agreement" would allow Witkoff to visit Moscow the next week.
Bloomberg has also transcribed another purported conversation between Ushakov and Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who spent days with Witkoff in Miami in late October, weeks before the 28-point draft plan surfaced. It was unclear who was responsible for the leak.
"We'll just make this paper from our position, and I'll informally pass it along, making it clear that it's all informal," Dmitriev says to his Russian colleague, according to the transcript. and allow them to act independently.
Dmitriev complained of a "well-funded, well-organised malicious media machine built to spread fake narratives, smear opponents and keep people confused," seemingly incensed by the news.
What is known about the US draft proposal that was released to put an end to Russia's war in Ukraine
Zelensky Volodymyr
Russia
Trump, Donald
Vladimir Putin, the US, and Ukraine
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