Russia-Ukraine deal soon? Putin to meet Trump’s envoy Witkoff in Moscow on Dec 2

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to hold talks to end the war in Ukraine with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday (Dec 2), the Kremlin said. The confirmation comes a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off high-stakes talks with a Ukrainian delegation, led by security council secretary Rustem Umerov, in Florida to discuss a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump. Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were also present at the meeting.

“The meeting with Witkoff is planned for tomorrow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a press briefing on Monday (Dec 1). He added that the meeting will take place “in the second half of the day.”

Following talks between the delegations from Kyiv and Washington in Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that more work was required to secure a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“This is delicate. It's complicated,” Rubio said. “There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr Witkoff travels to Moscow.”

While both sides described the talks as “productive”, a Kyiv delegation source told AFP that the discussions are “not easy”. Meanwhile, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday (Dec 2).

Meanwhile, Trump said on Sunday (Nov 30) that the corruption scandal in Kyiv that forced Zelensky to sack his chief of staff and top negotiator was not helping.

“Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, referring to the corruption probe in Ukraine. “But I think that there's a good chance we can make a deal,” he added.