US President Donald Trump said overnight, between Sunday and Monday, that there is “a good chance” of reaching an agreement that would end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump spoke after talks with the Ukrainian delegation in Florida. “I think Russia wants it to end, and I know Ukraine wants it to end too,” he said aboard Air Force One.
Trump also referred to the resignation of Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office and a close aide, amid a corruption scandal shaking the country. “Kyiv has a small problem happening, and it doesn’t help the contacts,” Trump said.
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'They want this to end,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One
(Photo:Pete Marovich / Getty images North America/ AFP))
An American official, meanwhile, briefed that Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, are expected to make their way to Moscow later Monday to continue the talks on ending the war. The two took part in the Florida meeting, which both sides described as “effective.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also attended, said afterward that “there is more work to do.”
Despite Trump’s optimism, a source close to the Ukrainian delegation told the French news agency AFP the discussions were “not easy.” Another senior source, described as involved in the negotiations, told AFP that “the drafting of the clauses is complicated, especially regarding territory.”
According to the source, the reason is that “the Americans see themselves only as mediators,” not as a side supporting Kyiv. “They wanted the final points in the plans to be agreed on so they could take them to Moscow,” the source added.
Witkoff is expected to meet in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, who expressed reservations a few days ago about a possible agreement with Ukraine. At a news conference during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin said he would agree to a ceasefire only if Kyiv withdraws from the territories at the center of the fighting. He again claimed there is no point in signing agreements with the current Ukrainian leadership, which he said is not legitimate.
Putin added that some in the West demand that Ukraine keep fighting until “the last Ukrainian,” saying, “Russia is ready for that.” He said, “Ukrainian forces must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will stop. If they don’t leave, we will achieve it by military means. That’s it.”
The gains the U.S. could reap
The Wall Street Journal reported at length that the proposed agreement, viewed by many in the West as tilted toward Russia, was crafted last month in Miami Beach by “three businessmen, two Americans and one Russian.” The three, according to the report, are Witkoff, Kushner and Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. The newspaper outlined what the United States would gain if Kyiv accepts the deal.
According to the Journal, under the framework the trio assembled, Russia’s $2 trillion economy would undergo massive reconstruction, with American companies given priority over European firms. Dmitriev, the report said, hopes U.S. companies could use about $300 billion in Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe for joint U.S.-Russian projects and for rebuilding Ukraine, which the Americans would lead.
At the same time, U.S. and Russian companies could cooperate in “exploiting the many minerals in the Arctic region.” The Journal said Dmitriev, in pushing the agreement, even suggested that the United States and Russia could work together on a Mars mission project backed by billionaire Elon Musk.
Senior Western security officials who spoke with the Journal said Dmitriev’s contacts with Witkoff and Kushner mark the peak of a Russian strategic plan to bypass the U.S. security establishment and get the administration to view Russia as “a country rich in opportunities” rather than a military threat.