Trump dispatches top envoys to Russia and Ukraine, insists peace deal is ‘really close’: ‘Only a few remaining points’

President Trump on Tuesday said US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to Ukraine as part of a frenzied holiday push to try to nail down a peace deal.

Trump publicly crowed that the warring countries are “getting really close’’ to a pact, while Russian officials appeared far more doubtful, and Ukraine seemed to be waiting to see how things shake out further.

The White House had issued a 28-point proposal last week that drew widespread criticism for handing Russia virtually everything it wanted.

President Trump is sending Steve Witkoff and Dan Driscoll to Ukraine to hammer out the final details. MediaPunch / BACKGRID

The backlash sent the Trump administration scrambling to come up with a revised, 19-point, much more Kyiv-friendly plan, which it did over the weekend with Ukraine.

“The original 28-Point Peace Plan, which was drafted by the United States, has been fine-tuned, with additional input from both sides, and there are only a few remaining points of disagreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“In the hopes of finalizing this Peace Plan, I have directed my Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with President [Vladimir] Putin in Moscow and, at the same time, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will be meeting with the Ukrainians.

“I will be briefed on all progress made, along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles,” Trump said.

“I look forward to hopefully meeting with President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter, and let’s all hope that PEACE can be accomplished AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”

US special envoy Steve Witkoff seen with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during peace negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation in Geneva on Nov. 23, 2025. Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP

Trump also insisted that both sides “are getting really close” to agreeing on a revised peace deal.
He previously set a deadline for a peace deal by Thanksgiving Thursday.

Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermank, confirmed that Driscoll is expected to arrive in Kyiv later this week to continue the peace talks.

Sources said Ukrainian officials are nervous at what discussions might bring, given they thought the 19-point plan was virtually a done deal, at least from their and the US sides.

“It’s necessary to wait and to understand with which position Driscoll will come, and to talk with Witkoff to understand which position he is going with to Moscow,” Yermak told The Post.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during earlier negotiations in Kyiv on Nov. 20, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

“What is good with President Trump is that he can change his position very quick.”

It remains to be seen how Russia will respond to the new deal. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that Moscow would not agree to any deal that strays from the initial 28-point plan.

Lavrov touted the original 28-point plan as what Trump and Putin supposedly agreed to during their Alaska summit in August, which sought to have Ukraine make heavy concessions while asking Russia to barely give up anything at all.

Ukrainian firefighter working to put out a blaze at a apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv on Nov. 25, 2025. AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Still, Russia is not likely to outright reject the new plan out of fear of provoking Trump, with the Kremlin even capable of signing support for the proposal — all while never committing to an actual cease-fire deal, sources told The Post.

Experts have warned that any sort of Russian agreement should be met with skepticism from the Trump administration.

“To be very honest, considering that we haven’t seen any change in Russian rhetoric regarding their political and military objectives, and certainly not in their behavior, I don’t see a possibility that the war ends at this point,’’ a European official told The Post, referencing the overnight assault on Kyiv that killed seven people.

Locals watching a house burn after a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia on Nov. 25, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

One of the biggest items on the table is Russia’s demand for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region.

Witkoff has been convinced that it would be a necessary sacrifice by Ukraine to achieve peace, telling Putin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov last month that he believed the best way to get the Kremlin to agree on the peace deal was to give up the fortress belt Donetsk oblast, located in Donbas, Bloomberg reported.

“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff told Ushakov, according to a new transcript of their call in which he appears to coach the Russian on how to approach Trump.

“But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get a deal here.”