Vladimir Putin greets Donald Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, in the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, April 25, 2025 (Kristina Kormilitsyna/AFP/Getty)
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Donald Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, told the Kremlin last month that Russia can have all of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Last month, as Ukrainian forces continued to hold 22% of the region — the strategic, fortified area guarding the “highway to Kyiv” — in the face of Russia’s 46-month invasion, Witkoff made the offer to Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov.
In a recording of the call, Witkoff advises Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically.
“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere.
But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.
With the Kremlin facing US sanctions and the threat of American cruise missiles being sent to Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, Witkoff suggested a Putin call to Trump. Two days later, the Russian leader did so, including the desire for all of Donetsk in the conversation.
And the day after that, in a heated White House meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Witkoff said Ukraine should withdraw from the area because many of the residents speak Russian.
Zelensky politely rejected the proposal. Despite a profanity-laced rant and a refusal to send the Tomahawks, Trump said the invasion should be frozen on the current frontlines.
The Kremlin and Witkoff persisted. A week after the White House encounter, Vladimir Putin’s senior economic advisor Kirill Dmitriev saw the envoy in Miami, Florida. The two men developed a Kremlin proposal from the spring which included the handover of Donetsk.
The provision was included in a 28-point “plan”, presented as Trump’s initiative, to be imposed on Ukraine last weekend. Kyiv and its European partners have pushed back with a counter-proposal — a ceasefire on current frontlines is to be established first, then provisions for a long-term settlement can be confirmed.
Witkoff in Moscow This Week
In the call with Ushakov, Witkoff put Russia’s draft from the spring into the context of the ceasefire of Israel’s mass killings in Gaza, announced the previous week: “We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you.”
Ushakov responded that Putin would “congratulate” the White House and say, “Mr Trump is a real peace man,” he said.
The Russian advisor confirmed the discussion on Wednesday, telling Russian State TV that the leak was an attempt to “hinder” talks.
“As for Witkoff, I can say that a preliminary agreement has been reached that he will come to Moscow next week,” he added.
Trump defended Witkoff’s collusion with the Kremlin as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
The reality TV star confirmed that Witkoff is travelling to Moscow “next week”, and said that his son-in-law Jared Kushner — also involved in the development of the “plan” with the Kremlin in late October — may also go. US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, an ally of Vice President J.D. Vance who has been meeting Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi, will go to Kyiv.
“I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages,” Trump posted.
He implicitly endorsed Russia’s seizure of all of Donetsk: “The way it’s going, if you look, it’s just moving in one direction. So eventually that’s land that over the next couple of months might be gotten by Russia anyway.”
