Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump who is leading Ukraine cease-fire talks, will meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, Germany.
On the 13th (local time), Reuters and other outlets said Envoy Witkoff will meet President Zelensky and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend to discuss a cease-fire proposal. Jared Kushner, Trump's eldest son-in-law, will also take part in the meeting.
Earlier, White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on the 11th that President Trump is tired of a "meeting for the sake of a meeting" and will send an official representative only when there is tangible progress in peace talks. The meeting between Envoy Witkoff and President Putin in Moscow on the 2nd ended without tangible results.
The WSJ said, "This meeting is a significant encounter held as the White House presses for an agreement to halt the war within the year," adding, "The decision to dispatch Witkoff shows growing pressure to narrow differences between Ukraine and the United States over the terms of a deal."
Territorial concessions and security guarantees for Ukraine are expected to be the biggest sticking points at the Berlin meeting. The United States has demanded, as Russia wants, that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, including key military strongholds currently occupied, but Ukraine has refused.
In response to Ukraine's opposition, the United States recently floated a revised plan to designate the Donbas areas currently occupied by Ukraine as a kind of special administrative zone, a "free economic zone" or a "demilitarized zone." However, Ukraine reacted negatively to this plan as well.
Other agenda items expected at the meeting include establishing security guarantees to prevent another Russian invasion of Ukraine, whether to allow Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and how to handle the large frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia that are frozen in Europe.
However, some expect it will be difficult to achieve meaningful progress at the Berlin meeting. Bloomberg said, "President Putin shows no sign of changing the goals of the war," adding, "Even if the United States and Ukraine reach an agreement, it is unclear whether Moscow would agree to a peace deal."