Witkoff to meet with Kremlin envoy in Miami on U.S. peace plan for Ukraine

The Kremlin envoy will travel to Florida to discuss the US proposed plan to end the war in UkraineA US official said Thursday as European Union leaders mulled a large loan to help the Ukrainian government.

Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian National Wealth Fund, is set to meet with President Trump's envoy Steve Witkov and Mr. Trump's son-in-law. Jared Kushnerin Miami on Saturday, according to the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the meeting, which has not yet been announced publicly.

The official said Witkoff and Kushner would meet with Dmitriev following meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week, during which they discussed U.S. security guarantees for Kyiv, territorial concessions and other aspects of America's plan to end the war.

Asked about the Miami meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Moscow was preparing for contacts with the United States to learn about the results of the Berlin meetings, but gave no further details.

Witkoff will also meet Friday in Miami with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to discuss the next phase of the Gaza deal, a senior State Department official confirmed to CBS News.

First stage Peace plan in the Gaza Strip began on October 10 with the cessation of hostilities and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The next stage involves the creation of an international security force and other measures and has not yet begun. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month he planned to meet with Trump soon to discuss “opportunities for peace” in the region.

Mr. Trump has launched an extensive diplomatic campaign to end nearly four years of fighting following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24, 2022, but Washington's efforts have faced sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that Moscow would seek to expand its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin's demands in peace talks.

Putin wants all territories in four key regions captured by his troops, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also demanded that Ukraine leave some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow's forces have not yet captured.

The Kremlin is also insisting that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warns that Moscow will not allow the deployment of any NATO troops and will treat them as a “legitimate target.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his readiness to abandon Ukraine's bid to join the Transatlantic Alliance if the United States and other Western countries provide Kyiv with security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine prefers NATO membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression.

At the same time, Zelensky rejected Moscow's demands to withdraw its troops from other areas that Russia was unable to seize by force.

Zelensky said Ukrainian officials were expected to hold talks in the United States on Friday or Saturday.

“We have progress in dialogue with the American side on some of our points, they are also talking with the Russian side,” Zelensky said during a visit to Brussels, where EU leaders were to decide whether to use tens of billions of euros of frozen Russian assets to secure a loan to meet Ukraine's military and financial needs over the next two years.

“We are at war, and the United States is the decision maker that can really stop Putin, and I am counting on that,” Zelensky said. “I really count on pressure from the United States. “Putin doesn’t want to stop this war, but he can if the US applies even more pressure.”

As European allies gather for a high-stakes summit, Russia and Ukraine trade new air attacks.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired 82 drones of various types into Ukraine overnight, 63 of which were intercepted or suppressed.

In Cherkasy, Russian drones struck vital infrastructure, wounding six people and leaving part of the city without electricity, said regional administration head Igor Taburets. Russian drones also wounded four people in Krivoy Rog and seven near Odessa, local officials said.

In Russia's Rostov region, three people were killed overnight by Ukrainian drones, including two crew members of a cargo ship shot down in Rostov-on-Don and another man killed in Bataysk. At least 10 other people were injured, according to local authorities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its air defense intercepted 47 Ukrainian drones overnight.