White House special envoy Steve Witkoff advised a senior official close to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month on how best to pitch a Ukraine peace plan to President Trump, according to transcripts of leaked audio released Tuesday.
In a phone conversation in mid-October, Mr. Witkoff informed Putin foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, that the Russian leader should call Mr. Trump to congratulate him on the signing of the Gaza peace deal and call him a “man of peace” before using the opportunity to bring up a new Ukraine peace plan, according to the transcript.
“Maybe he says to President Trump: You know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things,” Mr. Witkoff said in the call, according to the transcript first published by Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump did not dispute the authenticity of the transcript and defended his envoy to the press.
“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday evening on Air Force One. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
Mr. Ushakov declined to comment on the content of the transcript but accepted that they may be accurate representations of phone calls between the two diplomats, stating that he had spoken often to Mr. Witkoff. He rebuked the leak of the conversation’s details, saying their publication is intended to harm U.S.-Russia relations.
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“It’s probably to hinder the process. This is hardly being done to improve relations,” Mr. Ushakov said Tuesday. “They [Russia-U.S. relations] continue to be built, albeit with difficulties. The process involves this kind of communication, including over the phone.”
During his call with Mr. Ushakov, Mr. Witkoff pressed for a Trump-Putin call that would precede Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House on Oct. 17. That call ultimately took place, and the two leaders agreed to meet at some point in Hungary, though an exact date has not been set.
On Oct. 29, Mr. Ushakov spoke with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and debated how Moscow should approach pushing for its demands in peace discussions with U.S. diplomats. According to the transcript, Mr. Dmitriev said he didn’t expect the U.S. to accept all of Russia’s version of the plan, but that the peace deal would be “as close to it as possible.”
Mr. Dmitriev said the transcript is fake and was leaked only to hinder peace talks.
Just days before that conversation, Mr. Dmitriev had met with Mr. Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and informal foreign policy adviser, in Miami to discuss the framework for a 28-point Ukraine peace plan.
That plan, which was leaked to the media last week, was heavily criticized for being deferential to Russia. The proposal included major land concessions by Ukraine, including allowing Russia to annex the entire Donbas region; severe reductions in Ukraine’s military; and a ban on Ukraine from joining NATO.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr. Kushner, Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll and Mr. Witkoff traveled to Geneva last weekend to discuss and revise the proposed 28-point plan with Ukrainian diplomats.
Tuesday’s leak further complicates the already muddy atmosphere surrounding the peace negotiations. Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. and Ukrainian officials announced that Ukraine had reached an “understanding” on the core tenets of a peace deal with only minor details to be sorted out. However, neither side was willing to provide details on what had been agreed to and what needed to be finalized.
Russia has insisted that it has not seen a revised version of the peace plan and said it expects the U.S. to inform Moscow when it has finished its conversations with Europe and Ukraine.
Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he plans to send Mr. Witkoff to Moscow to meet with Mr. Putin, and Mr. Driscoll to meet with the Ukrainians.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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