On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump retracted a Thursday deadline for Ukraine to accept a US-supported peace proposal and dismissed a report that US negotiator Steve Witkoff had advised the Russians on how to engage him on the matter.
While en route to Florida for the Thanksgiving break, Trump informed reporters aboard Air Force One that US negotiators were advancing in talks with Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow conceding specific points. He did not elaborate on them.
A US-based framework for resolving the conflict, first revealed last week, has raised new concerns that the Trump administration may be inclined to pressure Ukraine into agreeing to a peace accord significantly favouring Moscow.
Trump announced that his envoy, Steve Witkoff, will fly to Moscow next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who contributed to negotiating the Gaza accord that led to a tenuous ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, was also involved in the process.
Recently, Trump designated Thanksgiving Thursday as the deadline for Ukraine to reach an agreement to conclude the conflict with Russia.
However, he and his advisors have retreated from a definitive timeline and now express a desire for an agreement at the earliest opportunity.
“For me, the deadline is when it concludes,” Trump stated aboard the presidential aircraft.
Bloomberg News reported that Witkoff, during an October 14 telephone conversation with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s principal foreign policy advisor, suggested collaborating on a ceasefire proposal for Ukraine and recommended that Putin discuss it with Trump.
Bloomberg reported that Witkoff’s recommendations included proposals to arrange a Trump-Putin meeting before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s White House visit later that week and to leverage the recently finalised Gaza agreement as a conduit.
In response to the article, Trump stated that he had not listened to the audio of the call upon which Bloomberg’s story was founded, but expressed no surprise, asserting, “that’s what a dealmaker does.”
“That is a conventional method of negotiation,” he stated. “I presume he is conveying the same message to Ukraine.”
Trump stated that Russia seemed to possess the advantage in the conflict and that it would be prudent for Ukraine to pursue a settlement.
He stated that certain territories in Ukraine “could potentially be acquired by Russia in the coming months.”
Trump stated that security assurances for Ukraine were under negotiation with European nations.
