Germany will host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, before a summit with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin tomorrow, a German official said.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Zelenskiy and European leaders in Berlin this weekend, a US official briefed on the matter said..
The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia regarding a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress after nearly four years of war since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The White House had said on Thursday Trump would send an official to talks only if he felt there was enough progress to be made.
“Talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine are taking place in Berlin this weekend between foreign policy advisers from, among others, the US and Ukraine,” a German government source said yesterday when asked about the meetings.
Tomorrow, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is hosting Zelenskiy and European leaders for a summit in Berlin, the latest in a series of public shows of support for the Ukrainian leader from allies across Europe as Kyiv faces pressure from Washington to sign up to a peace plan that initially backed Moscow’s main demands.
Britain, France and Germany have been working in the last few weeks to refine the US proposals, which, in a draft disclosed last month, called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its ambition to join Nato and accept limits on its armed forces.
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