President Donald Trump‘s top foreign policy negotiators are edging closer to a potential deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, met Sunday in Florida with representatives of Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s Ukrainian government to fine-tune a 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking with members of the media ahead of the day’s negotiations, Rubio shared that he aimed to develop an agreement that would guarantee that Ukraine would ‘never have another war again.’
‘This is not just about ending a war, this is about ending a war in a way that creates a mechanism and a way forward that will allow them to be independent and sovereign and never have another war again,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in remarks that kicked off Sunday’s meeting.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergiy Kyslytsya, shared on X that discussions were off to a ‘good start of the ongoing meeting’, adding that the process was ‘very engaging and so far constructive.’
Kyslytsya also added that there was a ‘warm atmosphere, conducive to potential progressive outcome.’
The 28-point peace plan presented by the Trump administration was criticized as being too pro-Russia earlier this week, a criticism also echoed by members of Trump’s own political party.
Congressman Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican and member of the House armed services committee, told CBS News that ‘you can’t be America first and pro-Russia, because Russia is a self-declared adversary of the United States.’
Turner also added that Russia is ‘fielding new, advanced nuclear weapons that are specifically targeting the United States,’ as well as constantly launching cyber attacks at the United States.
Commenting on Rubio’s negotiations, he also added that ‘this peace arrangement has to be one where you have to look at Russia as a skeptical adversary.’
A leaked call, first reported by Bloomberg, revealed how Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, maneuvered to expedite Putin’s access to Trump before a critical White House meeting with Zelensky.
The transcript shows Witkoff racing to connect Putin with Trump ahead of the October 19 Oval Office talks.
Witkoff also coached Ushakov on how Putin should approach Trump – suggesting the Russian leader praise him for the Gaza peace deal, which he later did.
Two days before meeting Zelensky, Trump spoke with Putin. On that call, Putin warned that sending Tomahawks would harm US–Russia relations. Trump reversed course on the missiles.
Bloomberg reported that the talks helped shape an initial 28–point peace proposal heavily favoring Russian interests, later reduced to 19 points.
Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social last week that he looked ‘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.’
