Ukraine war briefing: Witkoff shuttles into Moscow to hear Putin’s demands

An intensified diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year war has continued, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting Paris on Monday – a day after the Ukrainian president’s team held talks with US officials – and Vladimir Putin due to meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday. Zelenskyy, speaking in Paris, said the Kremlin’s claims of battlefield advances were exaggerated. He said Ukraine’s priorities remained security guarantees, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as he insisted that Russia must not get rewards for its aggression on Ukraine. He said he hoped to have talks with the US president, Donald Trump, to discuss next steps once Steve Witkoff is back from his talks in Russia. Ukraine’s president said that after revisions the peace plan circulating between Ukraine, Russia and Washigton “looks better” and the work will continue. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned however that talks between the Putin and Witkoff will again pile pressure on Ukraine to make concessions, write Jennifer Rankin and Pjotr Sauer. Kallas said: “In order to have peace, we shouldn’t lose focus that it’s actually Russia who has started this war and Russia that is continuing this war and Russia that is really targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure every single day to cause as much damage as possible.” The White House said it was “very optimistic” of a deal being reached to end the war. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters: Just yesterday [the White House team] had very good talks with the Ukrainians in Florida and now of course special envoy Witkoff is on his way to Russia.” Witkoff has in the past returned to Washington conveying variations of Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands for Ukraine’s total capitulation. His role has come under scrutiny following a report that he coached Putin’s foreign affairs adviser on how to pitch to Trump. The Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the Florida talks “achieved significant progress” but that some issues remained unresolved. Zelenskyy, while trying carefully not to anger Trump, has refused US-backed calls for Ukraine to give up hard-fought territory that Russia has not been able to seize. Four people were killed and 40 wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. Vladyslav Haivanenko, the acting governor of the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region, said 11 of those injured were in a serious condition. Ukraine’s emergency services said car service stations, other businesses, an office building and 49 cars were all damaged in the attack.