US envoy Witkoff to meet Putin on Thursday, the Kremlin confirms, as the signing of an $800bn Ukraine deal is put on hold.
Envoys for United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, amid reports that the signing of a $800bn “prosperity plan” was postponed due to tensions over Greenland.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said Moscow would not comment on talks in Davos, but stressed the importance for Russia of receiving information on discussions between the US, European leaders and Ukraine.
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Russian state-run news agency TASS reported that US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met on Tuesday for more than two hours on the forum’s sidelines.
The agency quoted Witkoff as saying the talks had been “very positive”.
Later, Witkoff told The Associated Press news agency that he and Kushner were planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian delegation on Thursday.
The Kremlin confirmed that the meeting that will take place in Moscow was on Putin’s schedule.
Derailed reconstruction plan
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported on Wednesday that tensions in the NATO alliance over Trump’s bid to acquire Greenland had derailed the signing of a Ukraine reconstruction plan, which was originally scheduled to take place in Davos.
The so-called “prosperity plan” to be agreed between Ukraine, Europe and the US was not being shelved indefinitely and could still be signed at a later date, the newspaper added.
“Nobody is in any mood to stage a grand spectacle around an agreement with Trump right now,” one official told the FT. The US president has shaken the transatlantic alliance by repeatedly threatening to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, claiming alleged “security” reasons.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned allies not to allow tensions over Greenland to distract them from the need to defend Ukraine.
“The focus on Ukraine should be the number one priority; it is crucial for European and US security,” Rutte said in a panel discussion in Davos on Wednesday.
“I am really worried that we lose sight and that in the meantime Ukrainians won’t have enough interceptors to defend themselves.”
Zelenskyy to skip Davos
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he would travel to Davos only if documents on security guarantees with the US and a “prosperity plan” were ready to be signed there.
The president said he would instead remain in Kyiv to oversee relief efforts, as Russian missile and drone attacks continued to batter Ukraine’s energy system.
Russia has intensified its onslaught in recent months, concentrating missile and drone attacks on the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro and often targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
With sub-zero temperatures, the attacks mean hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are struggling with lengthy interruptions to power and water supplies.
Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday said overnight Russian attacks on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed two people and injured a woman. The missile and drone attack also damaged several buildings.
A Russian drone was also reported to have exploded near a school on Tuesday in the village of Dobryanska community, in the Chernihiv region. No casualties were confirmed.
Russian authorities said Ukrainian drone fragments ignited a fire at the Afipsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region, causing no casualties. The refinery has been frequently attacked by Ukrainian drones in recent months as part of Kyiv’s retaliatory campaign.
