Witkoff, Trump’s top negotiator, said the U.S. would be looking to talks from early in the war as a basis for a deal. Ukraine’s supporters saw it as an embrace of a Kremlin talking point.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow could not consider "any options" for European peacekeepers being sent to Ukraine and that the idea was aimed at fuelling the conflict and making it harder to de-escalate.

Steve Witkoff says in the event of a peace deal in the Ukraine war, U.S. firms could operate in Russa. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that there would be an expectation that U.S. firms may do business in Russia in the event of a peace deal in the Russia- Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has also been involved in the Russia-Ukraine track, has expressed US interest in mineral extraction not only in Ukraine but also in Russia.

Ukraine said on Wednesday it had reached a "preliminary" deal to hand revenue from some of its mineral resources to the United States, before an expected trip to Washington by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday.