Russia will make no big concessions on a peace plan for Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday, after a leaked recording of a call involving the United States envoy Steve Witkoff appeared to show him advising Russia on how to pitch US President Donald Trump.
The transcript of a call between Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide, was leaked to Bloomberg News.
Trump, on Air Force One, brushed aside a question from a reporter about why Witkoff appeared to be coaching Russian officials as "what a dealmaker does" and "a very standard form of negotiation".
Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow next week with other senior US officials for talks with Russian leaders about a possible plan to end the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he was ready to advance the US-backed framework for ending the war and to discuss disputed points with the US president in talks that he said should include European allies.
Ukraine and its European allies are worried that details of the plan leaked last week show it bows to key Russian demands — barring Ukraine's NATO entry, enshrining Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and limiting the size of Ukraine's army.
Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow next week with other senior US officials for talks with Russian leaders. Source: AAP / AP / Alex Brandon
The plan — and the leaked Witkoff call — prompted harsh criticism from Trump's fellow Republicans.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick called for a change in strategy, describing the Witkoff call as a "major problem" on social media.
"These ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop," he said.
Senator Mitch McConnell, the party's former Senate leader, said Russia should not be rewarded.
"A deal that rewards aggression wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on. America isn’t a neutral arbiter, and we shouldn't act like one," he said on X.
Trump later said progress was being made and Russia was making concessions even though the war — in which Russian forces have been advancing — was only going to move "in one direction".
Russia says 'premature' to claim peace deal close
But, while welcoming the Trump administration's efforts, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday: "There can be no question of any concessions, or any surrender of our approaches to those key points."
Similarly, when asked by reporters whether a peace deal was close, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agency Interfax as saying "it's premature to say that yet".
Russia has also expressed concerns about the leak of Witkoff and Ushakov's call, saying it was an unacceptable attempt to undermine peace efforts and amounted to hybrid warfare.
It's been nearly four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Source: Getty / Global Images Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies echo former US president Joe Biden in saying the invasion is an imperial-style land grab for which Russia must not be rewarded.
Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence.
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