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Trump advisors meet Putin envoy in Paris on Ukraine peace plan
Trump advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Paris on January 7 to discuss the US peace plan for Ukraine, a pivotal step in efforts to halt a war now entering its fourth year. First reported by the French daily Le Monde, the encounter came a day after the Volunteers Coalition summit, where Ukraine and 35 allied nations agreed on a postwar security guarantees framework.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on January 8 that a bilateral security guarantees document with the United States stands "essentially ready for finalization at the highest level" with President Donald Trump. Spanning 15 years based on available details, the pact would commit Washington and its Western allies to back Ukraine against any fresh Russian incursion.
Paris talks tackled two flashpoints: security assurances for Ukraine and potential territorial concessions in the eastern Donbass region. Ukraine has advanced notably with American and European negotiators, though Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no public inclination to embrace the proposed deal.
Hours after these diplomatic strides, Russia unleashed a major assault on Ukraine, deploying its nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile Orechnik for just the second time since the war began. The overnight barrage from January 8 to 9 involved 36 missiles and over 240 drones, killing at least four people and wrecking critical infrastructure in Kyiv and western Ukraine near the Polish border.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the strike retaliated against an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Putin's residence, a charge dismissed by Ukrainian officials and US intelligence agencies for lack of evidence. "Recent missile strikes make it clear Moscow isn't rethinking its priorities," Zelensky stated, urging allies to keep up pressure on Russia.
At the January 6 Volunteers Coalition meeting in Paris, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a declaration pledging troop deployments to Ukraine post-ceasefire. The framework features a US-led ceasefire monitoring system and a multinational European force to deter future Russian aggression.
Pressure on Russia must match the intensity of our negotiation teams' work, Zelensky emphasized. Ukraine awaits feedback from Washington's outreach to Moscow to gauge if the aggressor truly seeks to end the war. Russia swiftly rebuffed the peacekeeping idea, with the Kremlin labeling any foreign force in Ukraine as "legitimate military targets." Moscow insists Ukraine surrender all of Donetsk region and abandon NATO ambitions demands Kyiv rejects outright.
