After an unscheduled talk with Putin's envoy, Trump promises a sweeping agreement reaching beyond Ukraine
The US president gave no details at all, while Kyiv and European capitals fear Washington is moving closer to Moscow.
Donald Trump on Thursday received Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the White House. The meeting was not on the schedule, the news agency AFP reports. According to Kyiv Post, Trump afterwards spoke of a big agreement that would cover more than Ukraine and could include all of Europe. He would not say what was discussed. He did say a solution to the war was very close, Al Jazeera writes, citing Reuters and AP. A Ukrainian delegation that was at the White House the same day did not get to see the president.
The meeting followed a gathering hosted by First Lady Melania Trump with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, including Ukrainian parliamentary group leader David Arakhamia and the human rights commissioners of both countries. She had earlier helped broker a six-day local truce in occupied Oleshky, which according to Al Jazeera allowed almost 800 civilians to leave. She gave the envoys letters for Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and called for the short truce to become a lasting ceasefire.
In Ukraine and Europe, AFP reports, there is growing concern that a broader deal could shrink the US military presence in Europe and hand Moscow more influence. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked European Council President António Costa in a letter that the EU decide who negotiates on behalf of the Union and with what mandate. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Ukrainian, European and NATO representatives in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees, VRT NWS reports. New talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine are scheduled in Abu Dhabi next week.