- The plan has sparked concerns that Kiev could be pushed into a deal targeting Russia.
- Steve Witkoff is visiting Moscow soon, with Jared Kushner also involved.
- Trump dropped his hinted Thanksgiving deadline and said he wants a deal now.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday backed away from a Thursday deadline for Ukraine to accept a US-backed peace plan, saying “the deadline for me is when it’s over.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump said US negotiators were making progress in talks with Russia and Ukraine and that Moscow had accepted some concessions. He did not elaborate on them.
A US-based framework to end the war, first reported last week, raised new concerns that the Trump administration might be willing to pressure Ukraine into signing a peace deal heavily tilted towards Moscow.
Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff would soon travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the Gaza deal that brought about an uneasy truce in the Israel-Hamas war, was also involved.
Trump had in recent days set the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday as the day he wanted to see Ukraine agree to a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But he and his aides have backed away from a firm deadline and now say they want an agreement as soon as possible.
“The deadline for me is when it’s over,” Trump said on the presidential plane.
Bloomberg News reported that in an Oct. 14 phone call with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Witkoff said they should work together on a ceasefire plan for Ukraine and that Putin should take it up with Trump.
Bloomberg said Witkoff’s guidance included proposals to set up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to the White House later this week and use the recently struck Gaza deal as a way in.
Asked about the report, Trump said he hadn’t heard the recording of the call on which Bloomberg based its story, but that he wasn’t surprised because “that’s what a dealmaker does.”
“You know, it’s a very standard form of negotiation,” he said. “I could imagine him saying the same thing to Ukraine.”
Trump said it appeared that Russia had the upper hand in the war and that it would be in Ukraine’s best interest to reach an agreement.
He said some Ukrainian territory “could be taken by Russia anyway” in the next few months.
Trump said security guarantees for Ukraine were negotiated with Europeans.
