Donald Trump’s chief negotiator Steve Witkoff pressed Volodymyr Zelensky to reach “compromises” with Vladimir Putin during a visit to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday aimed at reviving stalled peace efforts.
The former real estate developer, now Mr Trump’s most trusted diplomatic envoy, claimed the American side had arrived with “important cogent ideas” for resolving the conflict.
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Mr Zelensky received Mr Witkoff and Jared Kushner at Sophia Square, situated before Kyiv’s iconic Saint Sophia Cathedral and directly across from Ukraine’s intelligence headquarters – a building struck by a Russian drone just two days prior.
The Kyiv meeting followed Mr Witkoff’s Saturday session with Putin at the Kremlin, where he told the Russian president: “We were all talking about when we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all.”
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Rather than presenting fresh proposals, the US delegation reportedly brought reworked versions of peace plans dating from February, when negotiations last broke down, according to the Financial Times.
Speaking at a press conference following the formal discussions, Mr Zelensky categorically refused to surrender the Donbas region – a key Russian demand that Moscow has been unable to achieve militarily.
The Ukrainian leader said: “The question of the Donbas is not just a question of the Donbas. I believe it is the question of the entire war – a war of survival and attrition.”
He described the territory as “a Ukrainian outpost across many dimensions”.
For Mr Zelensky, ceding the region would pose an existential threat to his nation’s future.
He also urged Washington to approve a sanctions bill, originally championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, that would levy punishing tariffs on countries trading with Russia in order to choke off its war effort.
Mr Kushner, while commending Mr Zelensky’s “strength,” cast repeated doubt on whether a “peace package” could actually be reached, suggesting the negotiations might ultimately collapse.
Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Trump ally, said: “Vladimir Putin, this guy’s a pirate.
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“He’s got blood under his fingernails, he doesn’t care about a bunch of pretty talk,” he told NBC News on Sunday.
“You don’t get any credit for kissing his ass. You’ve got to show him you mean business.”
Senator Kennedy pressed the House to pass the Russia sanctions bill upon its return from recess on Monday.
He added: “I won’t be surprised if our guys don’t come out of there without a deal.”
Meanwhile, as Mr Witkoff conducted his shuttle diplomacy, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov declared that Moscow was at “the beginning of a real war” with the West, provoked by Germany’s reaction to an explosive drone attack on Leipzig airport uncovered in early August – one of the most audacious sabotage operations Russia has attempted on European soil.
Berlin responded by expelling the Russian consulate general from Bonn and shuttering the Russian House cultural centre in the capital.
Mr Lavrov told Russian state television: “This is, by and large, the start of a real war… I remember that before the start of the Second World War… They want war again.”
His remarks coincided with a landslide victory in a regional election for the Kremlin-friendly AfD party in Germany.
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