Initial Ukraine-Russia peace plan was hashed out over dinners in Miami – Rubio was unaware of ‘full scope’ until the day draft leaked: report
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, and Jared Kushner—Trump’s son‑in‑law—drafted the original 28‑point plan for ending the war in Ukraine. They met secretly in Miami with an insider on the Kremlin’s side, and only after the plan was leaked did Secretary of State Marco Rubio discover its “full scope,” a report says.
The first draft, later pared down to 19 points, required Ukraine to make tough compromises: cede territory east of the Dnieper, limit its armed forces, and renounce any aspirations to join NATO. Russia was almost expected to give almost nothing in return.
After brokering a cease‑fire in Gaza, Trump asked advisers to pull together a plan for Ukraine’s hardest conflict since World War II. Witkoff and Kushner began that work in October, working with Kirill Dmitriev— a wealthy close ally of President Putin— through “secret meetings” and dinner talks in Miami, according to the Wall Street Journal.
They allegedly took Dmitriev to Miami the weekend before Halloween for a packed three‑day planning session that included dinner, extended conversation at Witkoff’s home, and other discussions, officials said.
Dmitriev pushed hard for the clauses that would bar NATO membership for Ukraine and forced Ukrainian territorial concessions. He also wanted a cap on Ukrainian troop numbers and a series of economic agreements between Washington and Moscow.
The WSJ observed that the trio shared similar ideas about the plan’s shape, with Witkoff deciding that it should lean more toward Moscow’s interests after assessing that Ukraine was in a weaker position, based on talks with US and foreign officials and intelligence reviews.
When the draft leaked last week, its Moscow‑friendly terms stunned supporters of the Ukrainian war effort, including lawmakers in Congress. U.S. officials, however, argued it represented a “good‑faith attempt by Witkoff and Kushner to gain the support” of Putin while not completely abandoning Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner dialed President Volodymyr Zelensky at least twice while composing the document, officials noted. They also met with Ukraine’s national‑security adviser, Rustem Umerov, who bluntly told the Americans the strategy favored Moscow over Kyiv.
The majority of the provisions were actually drafted before the meetings with Ukrainian and Russian representatives, according to the WSJ.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after speaking with concerned lawmakers and traveling to Geneva to tweak the blueprint, only learned of the plan’s “full scope” on November 18— the day Axios reported the administration was “secretly drafting a new plan to end the Ukraine war.” He was reportedly given a copy of the draft during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while the latter was visiting Washington.
The updated version now contains 19 points and is less contentious for Kyiv. The items demanding Ukraine cede territory in the Donbas and drop its NATO ambitions have been removed, as The Post reported earlier.
During a press briefing on Sunday, Rubio called the original proposal a “living, breathing document” that has “evolved” over time. Neither the White House nor the State Department provided a timely response to The Post’s queries.
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