WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been \u201cfine-tuned\u201d and he\u2019s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n
He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Trump added in the social media posting. \u201cI look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump spoke after U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll held talks late Monday and throughout Tuesday with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to discuss the emerging proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe talks are going well and we remain optimistic,\u201d Lt. Col. Jeff Tolbert, spokesman for the Army secretary, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
As the talks were taking place, Russia launched a wave of overnight attacks on Ukraine\u2019s capital, Kyiv, with at least seven people killed in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s plan for ending the nearly four-year war emerged last week. It heavily favored Russia, prompting Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to quickly engage with American negotiators. European leaders, fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression but apparently sidelined by Trump in drawing up the proposals, scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: European officials welcome progress in negotiations on U.S. peace proposals to end Russia-Ukraine war<\/a><\/p>\n Latest phase of the talks<\/p>\n French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday peace efforts are gathering momentum and \u201care clearly at a crucial juncture.\u201d He spoke after senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cNegotiations are getting a new impetus. And we should seize this momentum,\u201d he said during at a video conference meeting of countries, led by France and the U.K., that could help police any ceasefire with Russia.<\/p>\n British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said of the talks: \u201cI do think we are moving in a positive direction and indications today that in large part the majority of the text, (Zelenskyy) is indicating, can be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n Oleksandr Bevz, one of the Ukrainian delegates at the Geneva talks, however, cautioned that it was \u201cvery premature to say that something is agreed upon.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday, he declined to discuss the specifics of any amendments to Trump\u2019s plan, but said the U.S. was aware that the strength of security guarantees for Ukraine would \u201cdefine the sustainability of the deal\u201d and was \u201cthe part making this deal real and enforceable.\u201d<\/p>\n