Envoy Witkoff says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made certain concessions regarding land cessions in Ukraine during the meeting with Trump in Alaska on Friday.
He did not specify the concessions, but suggests that the Kremlin may now consider land cessions along the current front line rather than the administrative borders in at least some of the five regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and the Crimean Peninsula.
He also says that Putin has agreed to American security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement.
We agreed on robust security guarantees that I would say change the picture, he says in an interview with CNN.
Group trip to Washington
The American statements came after a flurry of confirmations that leading Europeans are traveling to Washington DC to participate in the meeting between Zelensky and Trump.
"At President Zelensky's request, I will attend the meeting with President Trump and other European leaders at the White House tomorrow," von der Leyen wrote on X.
Also, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will attend the meeting.
One of the points on the agenda is security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump is said to have proposed a guarantee inspired by NATO's Article 5, which would allow Ukraine to receive help from all its allies, including the US, if it is attacked by Russia again.
Against veto power
On Saturday, several of the European leaders came out with demands that Zelensky must be allowed to play a greater role in future talks, and that peace cannot be achieved without him.
They also oppose Russia having veto power over Ukrainian membership in the EU and NATO, and announce that they are ready to extend sanctions against Russia. The leaders also welcome a proposed summit between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky.
