Report: Witkoff to present Putin with new proposal to end the war in Ukraine

White House envoy Steve Witkoff will meet today in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin and present a new proposal to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report in Axios citing an American official. Jared Kushner will also participate virtually in the meeting. Witkoff previously met with Zelensky in Norway in talks described as "constructive."

White House envoy Steve Witkoff will meet today (Wednesday) in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin and present him with a new proposal to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report on the Axios website citing an American official. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, is also expected to participate virtually in the meeting. The meeting comes after Witkoff met in Norway with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in talks that the American official called "constructive." The American official added that Ukraine "presented new ideas and proposals" during the talks, which also included the leaders of Norway and Finland and European and NATO representatives, and that the participants made "significant progress." The White House hopes that Putin will show "greater willingness to compromise" following the easing of sanctions by Trump. However, over the weekend, Trump signed an executive order delaying the implementation of sanctions that were supposed to take effect on Sunday. Last week, Trump said he thinks Putin wants to reach a deal more than Zelensky.