Trump sends envoys to meet Putin and Ukrainian officials after 'fine-tuning' plan

US President Donald Trump said his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned”, adding that he was sending his special envoy Steve Witkoff to hold meetings with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials.

Trump suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, Trump said resolving the war was difficult, and described what had been a 28-point plan as a work in progress. “That was not a plan, it was a concept,” Trump said.

Trump’s plan for ending the nearly four-year war emerged last week. It heavily favoured Russia, prompting Zelenskyy to quickly engage with US negotiators.

European leaders, fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression but apparently sidelined by Trump in drawing up the proposal, scrambled to steer the negotiations towards addressing their concerns.

Trump said he believed Witkoff would be meeting with Putin in Moscow next week, noting that his son-in-law Jared Kushner could potentially join the meeting.

“People are starting to realise it’s a good deal for both parties,” Trump said.

The US president also played down the element of his plan that would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. The plan, in its original form, called on Kyiv to cede the entirety of the eastern Donbas region, comprising Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia has only partially occupied.

“The way it’s going, if you look, it’s just moving in one direction," Trump stated. "So eventually that’s land that over the next couple of months might be gotten by Russia anyway.”

The comments came after Driscoll held talks late on Monday and throughout Tuesday with Russian officials in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi to discuss the emerging proposal.

“The talks are going well and we remain optimistic,” Jeff Tolbert, spokesperson for the US Army secretary, said in a statement.

Witkoff, a real estate developer turned diplomat, has been Trump’s chief negotiator with Putin, while Driscoll, who is close to US Vice President JD Vance, has stepped up his involvement in the administration’s peace push in recent days.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that peace efforts are gathering momentum and “are clearly at a crucial juncture.”

He spoke after senior US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday and a virtual “Coalition of the Willing” meeting of Ukraine’s European allies took place on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended both gatherings.

“Negotiations are getting a new impetus. And we should seize this momentum,” he said during the video conference meeting of countries, led by France and the UK, that could help police any ceasefire with Russia.

“I do think we are moving in a positive direction and indications today that in large part the majority of the text, (Zelenskyy) is indicating, can be accepted,” said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Zelenskyy said late on Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become workable." He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with Trump.

Rustem Umerov, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, in a post on X detailed that the Ukrainian president hopes to finalise a deal with Trump “at the earliest suitable date in November.”