Donald Trump has defended his special envoy Steve Witkoff as doing the 'standard thing' after a leaked recording appeared to show him advising a Russian official on how to appeal to the US president.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had not heard the audio, but that Witkoff was doing 'what a dealmaker does' to 'sell' a US-authored peace plan to both Russia and Ukraine.
The leaked call from last month emerged days after the 28-point draft peace plan was presented by the US, which largely reflected Russian positions on ending its full-scale war in Ukraine.
Witkoff has visited Moscow several times this year and will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin again next week.
He has never gone to Kyiv in his role as special envoy, though other US officials have visited and US army secretary Dan Driscoll went to Kyiv this week. Trump says he will hold further talks with the Ukrainians.
Diplomatic talks have continued after the initial draft plan was criticised by Ukrainian and European leaders as being too favourable to Russia. Among the proposals was handing Russia territory in eastern Ukraine currently controlled by Kyiv.
The plan has since been revised to better reflect Ukraine's interests and the views of European allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he was ready to meet Trump to discuss outstanding 'sensitive points'.
In the leaked audio recording obtained and shared as a transcript by Bloomberg, Witkoff appeared to advise Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, on how to get on Trump's good side.
During the leaked conversation, the two men reportedly talked about ending the war, with Ushakov asking if it would be useful to get their bosses - Putin and Trump - to speak.
Witkoff is quoted as saying that 'my guy is ready to do it', before suggesting how to go about the call. 'Just reiterate that you congratulate the president [Trump] on this achievement... that you respect that he is a man of peace and you're just, you're really glad to have seen it happen,' Witkoff is quoted as saying.
The call ends with Witkoff telling Ushakov of an imminent Zelensky visit to the White House, and that 'if possible', Trump and Putin should talk before that meeting.
By the time Zelensky entered the White House, the atmosphere seemed to have changed. Trump said giving Kyiv Tomahawks could escalate the conflict and that he believed Putin 'wants to end the war'.
Asked about the call being leaked, Yuri Ushakov told Russian state media that it was done to 'hinder, probably' and that it was 'unlikely' to be done to improve relations. He also confirmed that Witkoff would be visiting Moscow next week as per a 'preliminary agreement'.
It was not clear who was behind the leak, but Bloomberg has also transcribed another reported call between Ushakov and Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who spent days with Witkoff in Miami in late October weeks before the 28-point draft plan emerged.
Apparently angered by the report, Dmitriev complained of a 'well-funded, well-organised malicious media machine built to spread fake narratives, smear opponents and keep people confused'.
