Trump's special envoy to meet with Zelenskyy, Europeans on peace plan in Berlin – WSJ
Steve Witkoff (Photo: AARON SCHWARTZ/EPA)

Special Envoy of the president of the United States Steve Witkoff will meet with European leaders and the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin on the weekend regarding America's peace plan, reported on December 12 the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed officials.

This meeting is crucial as the White House insists on concluding an agreement to end the war by the end of 2025, the media reports.

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According to him, the decision to send Witkoff, who led the negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on the American peace plan, underscores the growing pressure from the United States to reduce the differences between Kyiv and Washington over the terms of the document. The special envoy will also meet with his counterparts from France, the United Kingdom, and Germany on Sunday and Monday.

According to officials, the French president Emmanuel Macron, prime minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer and the German chancellor Friedrich Merz will take part in the talks with Witkoff. It also refers to various advisors from their countries who deal with Ukraine.

Initially, European leaders hoped to organize a meeting with the American president Donald Trump this weekend to discuss their proposed changes to the peace plan.

The meeting with Witkoff will take place against the backdrop of the recent reaction of Ukraine and its partners to Trump's proposed document. Officials noted that there are still serious controversial points, including the Ukrainian territory that Moscow wants to seize, and Kyiv refuses to give it up unilaterally.

Officials said the phone call between the US president and European leaders on December 10 was tense. Earlier, the head of the United States claimed that they "discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words".

Unnamed people involved in the conversation told the WSJ that during these talks, Trump told European leaders that they should pressure Zelenskyy to accept the terms of the US peace plan, under which Ukraine would accept significant territorial losses and limit the size of its armed forces.

Earlier, the head of Ukraine said that in the current version of the peace plan, the number of the Armed Forces is 800,000 people – how many and the actual number of troops at the moment. He also denied that the U.S. has specific deadlines for concluding a deal.

  • On December 11, the White House spokeswoman said that Trump "wants action" to resolve Russia's war against Ukraine, he is tired of "meetings for the sake of meetings".
  • The next day, the Office of the president objected information that Ukraine has allegedly agreed to the creation of a buffer zone in Donbas in accordance with the American peace plan.
  • Meanwhile, the US president said that his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy is allegedly the only one, who did not like the concept.