Overview
- Bloomberg published a leaked transcript of an October phone call between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin foreign-policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
- The document reportedly shows Witkoff advising that any proposal to Washington should lavish praise on President Trump, including calling him "a man of peace."
- It also appears to outline a peace concept that would require Ukraine to give up control of Donetsk, a long-standing red line for Kyiv.
- President Trump defended Witkoff after the leak, calling the exchange "standard negotiations" while acknowledging he had not heard the call.
- The leak surfaced as Kyiv faces a November 27 deadline to respond to a U.S.-backed plan that unnamed officials have described as tilted toward Moscow.