French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to attend Berlin this weekend, as well as Witkoff, according to information provided to the Wall Street Journal.
A White House official confirms to Bloomberg that Witkoff will meet Zelensky and European leaders in the German capital, but it is not clear when the talks will take place.
The meeting takes place shortly before Monday's summit, when several world leaders are expected to Berlin to discuss Ukraine.
During the summit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will first receive Zelensky for economic talks and to discuss “the status of the peace negotiations in Ukraine.” After that, world leaders will gather.
The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on the US peace plan, to Berlin highlights the US's drive to reach an agreement as soon as possible. The White House said on Thursday that the US would only send an official to the meeting if President Trump believed that "sufficient progress" could be made in the peace talks.
Despite intensive negotiations, however, Russia and Ukraine remain far apart. On Thursday, Zelensky rejected a US proposal that Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donbass (the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine) to create a demilitarized "free economic zone."
