President Trump claimed on Tuesday that Russia is “making concessions” in talks to end the Ukraine war — and that Kyiv is “happy” with how talks are progressing.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the president said Moscow’s concessions are a promise to stop fighting, “and they don’t take any more land”.
Trump said his previously announced deadline of Thursday, Thanksgiving in the US, for Ukraine to agree to peace terms was no longer in place, however.
“The deadline for me is when it’s over,” he added. “And I think everybody’s tired of fighting at this moment.”
A burning residential in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, early on Wednesday morning
KATERYNA KLOCHKO/AP
Russian forces staged a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Tuesday, triggering fires, injuring 19 people and badly damaging buildings and vehicles, the regional governor said.
Ivan Fedorov, posting on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack had destroyed shops and damaged 31 apartment blocks and 20 private homes. He said eight people were being treated in hospital.
“A rescue operation is currently underway at 12 locations,” Fedorov said in a video posted online. “The maximum number of units from the State Emergency Services, national police and our medical teams has been deployed.”
Kirill Dmitriev, a senior Kremlin negotiator, has described as “fake” an audio recording that purports to be of him discussing a US-backed peace plan for Ukraine with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy.
The recording, which was published by Bloomberg, also features a voice identified as that of Yuri Ushakov, a senior Kremlin foreign policy aide.
Ushakov, who has not questioned the authenticity of the recording, can be heard receiving advice from Witkoff on how President Putin should discuss the war with Trump. Ushakov responded that Moscow would refer to Trump “as a real peace man”.
Witkoff, who has not commented on the recording, also suggests that Russian control over the Donetsk region and “a land swap” would be necessary to secure a peace deal.
The recording appears to suggest that it was Dmitriev’s idea to leak the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine to the media. “I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal,” he says, according to Bloomberg.
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Putin in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday
GETTY
President Putin has signed a decree which states that Kremlin-backed authorities must increase the number of people who identify as Russian and speak Russian in the occupied parts of Ukraine.
Since the invasion of Ukraine which began in February 2022, Putin has claimed to have annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The document, published on Tuesday, titled “Strategy of Russia’s national policy in the period to 2036”, said securing control over the Ukrainian regions “created conditions for restoring the unity of the historical territories of the Russian state”.
It was vital, the document said, “to adopt additional measures to strengthen overall Russian civic identity”, entrench use of Russian and act against “efforts by unfriendly foreign states to destabilise inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations and create a split in society”.
The Kremlin’s adviser has also responded to reports of the leaked call.
“I speak fairly often with Witkoff, but the content of those conversations is confidential,” Yuri Ushakov said in comments to Russian TV.
He said such reports risked damaging US-Russian ties, which “are being built, with difficulty”, but mainly through phone calls.
President Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday
ANNA ROSE LAYDEN/FILE PHOTO/REUTERS
President Trump defended his envoy after a call between Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, was leaked to the media.
During the phone call on October 14, Witkoff said Ukraine would have to give up land to secure a peace deal, and appeared to be advising the Russians on how Putin should negotiate with Trump.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the call, first reported by Bloomberg, represented a “very standard form of negotiations”.
Ukraine has said it accepts the “core terms” of a peace proposal, but doubts remain about President Putin’s willingness to end the war.
Kyiv’s allies have advanced a 19-point plan to potentially end the war, revised from an original 28-point plan drawn up by US and Russian negotiators that was widely considered too favourable to Moscow.
“We firmly believe security decisions about Ukraine must include Ukraine, security decisions about Europe must include Europe,” President Zelensky said on Tuesday. “Because when something is decided behind the back of a country or its people, there is always a high risk it simply won’t work.”
• Ukraine accepts ‘core terms’ of plan that could give peace a chance
The two men met in Moscow in August
EPA/GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL
The Kremlin has confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week to meet President Putin to discuss a plan to end the Ukraine conflict.
“A preliminary agreement has been reached on (Witkoff’s) visit to Moscow next week,” Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian TV.
Several other officials from the Trump administration will accompany Witkoff, Ushakov said.
Trump first announced the trip on Tuesday, saying Witkoff may be joined by Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law.