By Kavita Mistry 
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (November 25, 2025) his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials.
He suggested he could eventually meet with Mr. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.
“I will be briefed on all progress made, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles,” Mr. Trump added in the social media posting.
“I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages,” he said.
Mr. Trump spoke after U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks on late Monday (November 24, 2025) and throughout Tuesday with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to discuss the emerging proposal.
“The talks are going well and we remain optimistic,” Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert, spokesman for the Army secretary, said in a statement.
As the talks were taking place, Russia launched a wave of overnight attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with at least seven people killed in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.
Mr. Trump’s plan for ending the nearly four-year war emerged last week. It heavily favoured Russia, prompting Mr. Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression but apparently sidelined by Mr. Trump in drawing up the proposals, scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns.
Long road to peace
Mr. Zelenskyy said late Monday (November 24, 2025) that “the list of necessary steps to end the war can become workable.” He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” outstanding issues with Mr. Trump.
Rustem Umerov, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelenskyy, posted on X on Tuesday (November 25, 2025) that Mr. Zelenskyy hoped to finalise a deal with Mr. Trump “at the earliest suitable date in November.”
Russian officials have been reserved in their comments on the peace plan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday (November 25, 2025) that Moscow is in touch with U.S. officials about peace efforts.
“We expect them to provide us with a version they consider an interim one in terms of completing the phase of coordinating this text with the Europeans and the Ukrainians,” Mr. Lavrov said.