Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine accelerated this week as President Donald Trump announced that his administration has “fine-tuned” its emerging peace proposal and dispatched senior envoys to meet with Russian and Ukrainian officials. The move comes as Kyiv signals conditional openness to a US-brokered framework and as European governments scramble to shape a settlement that could define Europe’s security landscape for decades.
Trump said Tuesday that real estate developer–turned-envoy Steve Witkoff would soon meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, while US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, now spearheading the administration’s negotiations, would continue talks with Ukrainian officials. The president hinted that a three-way meeting involving himself, Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be possible, but only if negotiations reach their final stage.
“I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelensky and President Putin soon, but only when the deal to end this war is final or in its final stages,” Trump said on social media. He added that he is receiving regular briefings from Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Driscoll has held two days of discussions with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, which US military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert described as “going well.” His involvement reflects the unusual diplomatic structure of the Trump administration’s peace push: a senior Pentagon official, operating outside traditional State Department channels, now plays a central role in brokering one of the most consequential agreements of the post-Cold War era.
Witkoff, a longtime Trump ally, has served as the administration’s primary intermediary with Putin and has reportedly been instrumental in shaping the president’s initial draft proposal.
An Uneasy Framework Takes Shape
The evolving peace plan has gone through several revisions since an early version surfaced last week. European leaders reacted sharply to the initial draft, which was seen as heavily favoring Russia, prompting rapid engagement from Kyiv and a flurry of counter-proposals from European governments.
According to US officials, the original 28-point plan has been pared down to reduce duplication and remove provisions that addressed only US–Russia relations. Some earlier clauses including a permanent ban on Ukrainian NATO membership, a 600,000-troop cap on Ukraine’s military, and a requirement that Kyiv hold national elections within 100 days, have reportedly been softened or set aside. Zelensky’s representatives dispute reports that the document now stands at 19 points but acknowledge that the list was streamlined.
Ukraine has nonetheless accepted the broad framework of the US proposal, agreeing in principle to a peace deal while reserving judgment on the most contentious issues, particularly territorial arrangements and the scope of US security guarantees. Kyiv has agreed to cap its armed forces at 800,000 troops during peacetime, a concession closer to European preferences than Washington’s initial suggestion.
Oleksandr Bevz, a member of Ukraine’s negotiating delegation, told the Associated Press that the strength of US security guarantees “will define the sustainability of the deal” and remains “the part making this deal real and enforceable.”
Zelensky said Monday that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become workable,” though “sensitive” issues still require direct discussions with Trump. He is expected to travel to the United States later this month in hopes of finalizing the framework.
European governments, sidelined in the drafting process, have pushed aggressively to influence the terms. France, Britain, and Germany submitted a modified version of the US plan that begins territorial discussions at the current Line of Contact rather than predetermining Russian control of certain areas. Their draft also calls for an American security guarantee for Ukraine modeled on NATO’s Article 5. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said momentum is “solid and encouraging,” but warned that pressure on Moscow must continue.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the talks as being at “a crucial juncture,” while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Zelensky has signaled that “the majority of the text can be accepted.”
Moscow’s Calculations and Caution
Russia has responded with guarded statements, appearing uneasy with revisions that dilute concessions embedded in the earlier draft. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is awaiting what the United States calls its “interim” version of the text following consultations with Europeans and Ukrainians.
Russian officials privately warned that deviations from understandings allegedly reached between Trump and Putin at their Alaska summit in August could fundamentally alter Moscow’s willingness to engage. Officials close to the Kremlin expect Putin to dismiss the latest version “out of hand,” according to sources in Washington.
Diplomacy Overshadowed by Escalating Attacks
While negotiators shuttled between Abu Dhabi, Geneva, and European capitals, violence intensified dramatically on both sides of the front. Russia launched more than 460 drones and 22 missiles at Ukraine overnight, striking residential buildings and key energy infrastructure in Kyiv. At least seven people were killed, and large sections of the capital were left without water, heat, or electricity.
Ninety-year-old Kyiv resident Liubov Petrivna described how “glass rained down” as her apartment windows shattered. She expressed deep skepticism that any peace plan could hold, saying Putin “won’t stop until he finishes us off.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the strikes were retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on civilian sites in Russia. Hours earlier, a large Ukrainian drone assault targeted Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, damaging industrial facilities and wounding six people. Ukrainian drones also reached targets in occupied Crimea and struck an aviation repair plant, drone production facility, oil refinery, and oil terminal. Russian air defenders reported shooting down 249 Ukrainian drones, one of the largest single-night tallies since the war began.
The overlapping assaults illustrate the precarious environment in which negotiations are unfolding. Zelensky’s adviser Rustem Umerov said Kyiv hopes to finalize an agreement with Trump “at the earliest suitable date in November,” though Ukrainian, American, and European officials caution that the road to peace remains long and fraught.
Yet with both sides under pressure Ukraine from relentless bombardment and Russia from deepening military and economic strain, diplomats inside and outside Washington believe the coming weeks could determine whether the conflict enters a new diplomatic phase or returns to stagnation.
