Vladimir Putin’s chief manipulator Kirill Dmitriev with Melania Trump in the White House, Washington, D.C., November 5, 2026

Thursday’s Coverage: Zelensky Speaks with Trump Envoys Witkoff and Kushner

Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin’s chief manipulator Kirill Dmitriev in the White House on Thursday, ahead of next week’s talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Trump declared:

There’s going to be an agreement. It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine. I could even say it might involve all of Europe. It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement and everyone is going to be thrilled.

Trump gave no details of the conversation with the Russian fixer.

Dmitriev had come to Washington on the pretext of a ceremony for Melania Trump, marking the evacuation of several residents from the Russian-held town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine.

Putin’s advisor, who is head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has been in talks with Trump officials since 2017. Since early 2025, he has been the chief contact with Trump’s envoys, real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as the Kremlin pursued its maximum demands for Ukraine’s capitulation.

Dmitriev has declared that up to $14 trillion of US-Russian projects will follow a ceasefire in Ukraine on Moscow’s terms. In early September, the Kremlin tabled initiatives worth tens of billions of dollars, many involving family and associates of Trump, Witkoff, and Kushner.