"The deadline for me is when it’s over," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, saying U.S. negotiators were making progress with both Moscow and Kyiv and that Russia had agreed to "some concessions," without providing details.
The proposal, initially a 28-point framework developed behind closed doors by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff with Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, has raised fears Washington could press Ukraine into a deal favoring Moscow. The Financial Times reported the plan was later cut to 19 points in Geneva talks with U.S., Ukrainian and European officials.
Trump, responding to criticism, said the 28-point document "was just a map," calling it a concept that had since been narrowed, with "a lot" of issues "very favorably solved." He said Witkoff would travel to Moscow next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bloomberg reported that in an Oct. 14 call with Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, Witkoff suggested working together on a ceasefire and a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s White House visit, citing the recent Gaza agreement as a model. Trump said he had not heard the recording but called such talks "a very standard form of negotiation."
Trump said Russia appeared to have the upper hand on the battlefield and argued it was in Kyiv’s interest to reach a deal, warning "some Ukraine territory might be gotten by Russia anyway over the next couple of months."
He added that security guarantees for Ukraine were being discussed with European partners and described complex talks on redrawing borders, saying negotiators were "trying to clean up a border" in a way that did not "go through the middle of a house" or a highway.
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Source: PAP, Polskie Radio 24, Reuters