 "Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands during their meeting in Moscow. File image/AP")
After holding talks with the Ukrainian delegation, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will on Tuesday discuss with Russian leader Vladimir Putin a proposal to end the ongoing war.
While only Witkoff was originally scheduled to meet Putin, the Kremlin on Tuesday said that Kushner will also be part of talks.
Witkoff and Kushner are expected to present Putin with a proposal to end the war that has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump. The proposal stems from the infamous 28-point proposal and has been revised during several rounds of talks between American and Ukrainian officials.
Ahead of the meeting with Putin, Witkoff joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kushner to hold talks with a Ukrainian delegation on Sunday.
Even as Trump has pressed Ukraine to accept Russian terms and floated proposals that contain most of Putin’s maximalist demands, the Russian leader has so far rejected all proposals and has stressed that he wants Ukraine’s absolute surrender and acceptance of all of his maximalist terms.
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Trump’s original proposal essentially did just that. The acceptance of such a proposal would have meant Ukraine’s surrender and loss of sovereignty.
In recent weeks, Putin has repeated his longstanding maximalist demands and has essentially rejected Trump’s proposal that has been reworked after repeated consultations with Ukraine that has been backed by its European partners.
Trump’s original 28-point plan had most of Putin’s maximalist terms such as the surrender of territories, a cap on the military, a ban on Ukraine’s membership of Nato, granting official status to Russian language, and legalising the pro-Russian branch of the Orthodox Church. Such terms would have meant an outright surrender for Ukraine and a loss of sovereignty. But Putin appeared to reject even such a proposal and instead stuck to his original demands.
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View AllPutin threatens annihilation ahead of talks
Last week, ahead of talks with Witkoff, Putin delivered an ultimatum to Ukraine and said he would annihilate the nation if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not surrender all territories that he desires.
Claiming that the Russian army was “practically impossible to hold back”, Putin said that “some people demand to keep on fighting until the last Ukrainian dies and Russia is ready for that”.
Putin further said, “If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations. If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”
Putin will meet Witkoff and Kushner at a time when Russian advance has picked up pace on the ground. Russia has announced capturing the crucial city of Pokrovsk. The city has been described as a potential gateway that could allow Russian to capture the rest of the Donbas province in the country’s east.