The Trump administration is secretly working on a peace plan to end the Ukraine war, in consultation with Russia. The 28-point plan will deal with peace in Ukraine, security guarentees, security in Europe, and future U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine, according to Axios.
Interestingly, one Russian official told Axios that he was optimistic about the plan.
Trump’s envoy Witkoff is leading the drafting of the plan and is in close consultation with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitrieve. The report added that Dmitiev visited Miami during the last week of October and spent three days huddled with Witkoff and other members of Trump’s team. "We feel the Russian position is really being heard," Dmitiev told Axios, while expressing optimism about the deal’s chances of success.
The Russian envoy added that the plan was to work on the principles that US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed to in Alaska. "It's actually a much broader framework, basically saying, 'How do we really bring, finally, lasting security to Europe, not just Ukraine,'" he said.
However, it won’t have any resemblance to the UK-led efforts to devise a Gaza-style peace plan. He added that any such plan had no chances of success as it doesn’t consider Russia’s position. Dmitiev, however, rushed to make Russia’s position clear, stating that all this was “happening with the background of Russia definitely having additional successes on the battlefield."
However, it is unclear how Kyiv’s European partners will react to the deal.
Meanwhile, other efforts are going on along the sidelines. Trump has sent US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, along with two four-star Army generals, to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials. The same team will also head to Russia, possibly to discuss the peace deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report added that Trump decided to send Driscoll and senior military officers in the hope that Moscow might be more open to military-brokered negotiations.
Trump on Tuesday brought back the topic again, after mentioning how he was a little surprised at Putin. He added that he was he was still hopeful that he could stop the fighting. “I’ve actually stopped eight wars. I have another one to go with Putin. I’m a little surprised at Putin. It has taken longer than I thought,” Trump said.