Kusher, Witkoff travel to Germany for pivotal talks with Zelensky, European leaders in search of Ukraine peace deal
US officials are headed to Berlin for a high-stakes sit-down Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders – as Washington presses for an elusive peace deal to end the deadly war in Ukraine.The White House said this week it would only send officials to talks if enough progress had been made, indicating President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Germany could be a step closer toward a truce.Talks between the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine scheduled for Saturday in Paris were canceled with no explanation given.
The US had indicated it was unsure whether it planned to send a delegation to the meeting.Kyiv and European leaders delivered their revisions to Washington’s proposed peace plan this week, after a draft leaked last month — widely viewed as favorable to Russia — had Ukraine cede territory, renounce its NATO ambitions and limit the size of its military.Territorial concessions remain the biggest sticking point — with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin demanding the entire mineral-rich Donbas region, including portions of Donetsk and Luhansk that he hasn’t been unable to seize in nearly four years of fighting — something Zelensky has called unacceptable.The Ukrainian leader said Washington has floated a “compromise vision” that would see both Ukrainian and Russian troops withdraw from eastern Donetsk, where Moscow occupies roughly 80% of the region, according to reports this week.“They discussed the issue of a ‘free economic zone.’ The Americans call it that, while the Russians refer to it as a ‘demilitarized zone,'” Zelensky said, adding that “serious” questions persist about who would manage and police such a zone and assure that Russian troops actually withdraw from it.The idea of establishing some sort of demilitarized zone was also included in Ukraine’s latest peace proposal, according to reports.
The US wants a “full understanding” by Christmas of the pe...