Trump says he’s sending his envoys to see Putin and Ukrainians after fine-tuning plan to end war

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump declared Tuesday his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been fine-tuned and he s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian functionaries He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but not until further progress has been made in negotiations I will be briefed on all progress made along with Vice President JD Vance Secretary of State Marco Rubio Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles Trump added in the social media posting I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or in its final stages Trump spoke after Driscoll held talks late Monday and throughout Tuesday with Russian officers in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates to discuss the emerging proposal The talks are going well and we remain optimistic Lt Col Jeff Tolbert spokesman for the Army secretary disclosed in a announcement As the talks were taking place Russia launched a wave of overnight attacks on Ukraine s capital Kyiv with at least seven people killed in strikes that hit city buildings and strength infrastructure A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes administration reported Still Trump expressed a measure of optimism that his administration s diplomatic efforts could soon lead to a breakthrough Witkoff a real estate developer turned diplomat has been Trump s chief interlocutor with Putin while Driscoll who is close to Vance has stepped up his involvement in the administration s peace push in latest days Trump s plan for ending the nearly four-year war emerged last week It heavily favored Russia prompting Zelenskyy to hurriedly engage with American negotiators European leaders fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression but apparently sidelined by Trump in drawing up the proposal scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns I think we re getting very close to a deal We ll find out Trump reported in an aside during the annual White House turkey pardon a typically lighthearted annual event to mark the Thanksgiving holiday in the U S He added I thought that would have been an easier one but I think we re making progress Latest phase of the talks French President Emmanuel Macron commented Tuesday peace efforts are gathering momentum and are clearly at a crucial juncture He spoke after senior U S and Ukrainian officers met in Geneva on Sunday and a virtual coalition of the willing meeting of Ukraine s European allies took place on Tuesday Rubio took part in both gatherings Negotiations are getting a new impetus And we should seize this momentum he mentioned during the video conference meeting of countries led by France and the U K that could help police any ceasefire with Russia British Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned of the talks I do think we are moving in a positive direction and indications in the current era that in large part the majority of the text Zelenskyy is indicating can be accepted Oleksandr Bevz one of the Ukrainian delegates at the Geneva talks however cautioned that it was very premature to say that something is agreed upon In an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv late Tuesday he declined to discuss the specifics of any amendments to Trump s plan but revealed the U S was aware that the strength of assurance guarantees for Ukraine would define the sustainability of the deal and was the part making this deal real and enforceable Bevz earlier described the AP that the number of points in the proposed settlement was reduced but he denied reports that the -point U S peace plan now consisted of points The document is going to continue to change We can confirm that it was reduced to take out points not relating to Ukraine to exclude duplicates and for editing purposes Bevz announced adding that certain points relating solely to relations between Russia and the U S were excluded European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared on Tuesday that the coalition of the willing meeting indicated solid and encouraging progress on a peace deal in Ukraine while criticizing Moscow s latest attack on Kyiv and drone incursions in Romania and Moldova Since pressure remains the only language Russia responds to we will continue to increase it until there is a genuine willingness to engage on a credible path toward peace she explained Long road to peace Zelenskyy announced late Monday that the list of necessary moves to end the war can become workable He noted he planned to discuss sensitive outstanding issues with Trump Rustem Umerov a senior adviser to Zelenskyy posted on X on Tuesday that Zelenskyy hoped to finalize a deal with Trump at the earliest suitable date in November Russian representatives have been reserved in their comments on the peace plan Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Tuesday that Moscow is in touch with U S officers about peace efforts We expect them to provide us with a version they consider an interim one in terms of completing the phase of coordinating this text with the Europeans and the Ukrainians Lavrov commented European leaders have cautioned that the road to peace will be long Glass rained down Russia fired missiles of various types and more than drones at Ukraine overnight Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram The strikes knocked out water electricity and heat in parts of Kyiv Images presented a large fire spreading in a nine-story residential building in Kyiv s eastern Dniprovskyi district Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced people were wounded in Kyiv The Russian Defense Ministry explained it targeted military-industrial facilities and force assets The strikes were a response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian objects in Russia the ministry reported Liubov Petrivna a -year-old resident of a damaged building in the Dniprovskyi district described the AP that absolutely everything in her apartment was shattered by the strike and glass rained down on her Petrivna declared that she didn t believe in the peace plan now under discussion No one will ever do anything about it she stated Russian President Vladimir Putin won t stop until he finishes us off Large Ukrainian drone attack The overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russia s southern region of Krasnodar was one of the longest and majority of massive and wounded six people Gov Veniamin Kondratyev disclosed Russian air defenses destroyed Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions and the occupied Crimean Peninsula the Russian Defense Ministry commented Tuesday Ukraine stated that its drones and missiles struck an aviation repair plant and a drone production facility as well as an oil refinery and an oil terminal It was the fourth-largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russia since the start of the war on Feb according to an AP tally