Kremlin confirms US envoy visit as peace talks progress

A senior Kremlin official confirmed on Wednesday that US special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts pick up speed to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

- Associated Press

But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, insisted that Kremlin officials haven't officially received the initial US peace proposal, although they have acknowledged that they have seen a copy obtained through back channels. Representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine held talks earlier this week.

“Contact is ongoing, including via telephone, but no one has yet sat down at a roundtable and discussed this point by point. That hasn't happened,” Ushakov told Russian state media.

Ukrainian officials didn’t confirm whether US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who in recent weeks has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts, would be in Kyiv in the coming days, as US President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday.

Trump's plan for ending the war became public last week, setting off diplomatic maneuvering.

The initial version appeared heavily slanted towards Russian demands for halting Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.

After weekend talks in Geneva between US and Ukrainian officials, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the plan could be “workable,” although key points remain unresolved.