“I’m even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza. 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,” he added.
Witkoff has repeatedly infuriated Kyiv’s European allies, according to multiple diplomats and officials, by repeatedly promoting Kremlin talking points after meeting with senior Russian officials, including Putin. Trump’s primary goal is to end the war in Ukraine, and White House officials said that he doesn’t have red lines on what that looks like. Moscow has meanwhile continued its bombardment of Ukraine for almost four years now, with no sign of letting up.
The current round of peace talks involving a range of players from Ukraine to Europe to the U.S. to Russia — taking place across Switzerland, Angola and the United Arab Emirates — was kicked off by the revelation that Witkoff and Dmitriev had worked up a 28-point plan to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Many of Ukraine’s allies freaked out at the contents of the Trump-backed plan — which appeared to largely favor the Russian side in terms of territorial concessions and limiting the size of Kyiv’s army — and rushed to help draft a counterproposal for Washington to present to Moscow.
Dan Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, on Tuesday met with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi to present the revised 19-point plan, which stripped away some of the elements most heavily tilted toward Moscow.
In a second call that Bloomberg published, between Ushakov and Dmitriev on Oct. 29, the two Russian officials discussed guiding the Americans into accepting a version of the peace deal that favors their position.
“Well, we need the maximum, don’t you think?” Ushakov asked, according to the transcript. “What do you think? Otherwise, what’s the point of passing anything on?”
“No, look,” Dmitriev replied. “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. And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.”