Trump envoy meets Putin in Moscow as US pushes for Ukraine peace deal, claims agreement near

US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has met Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow to discuss the US plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Mr Trump on Friday said the two sides were “very close to a deal,” despite apparent differences in their positions.

He said in a social media post after Witkoff’s meeting concluded that it was a good day of talks and called for a high-level meeting between Kyiv and Moscow to close a deal.

“Most of the major points are agreed to,” Mr Trump said in the post after landing in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.

“Stop the bloodshed, NOW.”’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also expected to attend the funeral, although he said on Friday he was not certain he could make it.

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who took part in Friday’s meeting and brief reporters on the details, earlier described it as constructive and very useful.

“This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues,” he told reporters.

“As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”

There was no immediate comment from Witkoff.

Witkoff’s meeting took place just hours after a car bomb killed a senior Russian military officer near Moscow, which the Kremlin blamed on Kyiv.

On Thursday, Mr Trump criticised a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 people, and posted a message to Mr Putin on social media that read: “Vladimir, STOP!”

Mr Trump has warned both sides that the US will abandon its effort unless there is genuine progress.

Video of the start of Friday’s meeting showed the American, accompanied only by a translator, seated opposite Mr Putin, Kremlin aide Ushakov and Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, also with an interpreter.

According to texts seen by Reuters, the peace proposal Witkoff has presented calls for formal US recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea - the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow seized and annexed in 2014 - plus de facto recognition of Russia’s hold on areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that its forces control.

A European and Ukrainian document defers detailed discussion about territory until after a ceasefire is concluded, with no mention of recognising Russian control over any Ukrainian territory.

There are also differences over the lifting of sanctions on Russia, the shape of security guarantees for Ukraine and the future size of the Ukrainian military.

Mr Zelensky said this week that recognising Crimea as part of Russia would violate Ukraine’s constitution.

Mr Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday: “Crimea will stay with Russia. And Mr Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”