A remarkable diplomatic blunder has offered unprecedented insight into secret peace negotiations between the United States and Russia aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accidentally revealed details of the covert discussions through a mistakenly public tweet on Thursday 20th November 2025.
The Tweet That Revealed Too Much
The incident occurred when Witkoff, responding to an Axios news story by Barak Ravid about a "secret" peace plan, wrote: "He must have got this from K..." The message was quickly deleted, but not before being captured by observers.
This simple tweet provided crucial confirmation that high-level backchannel communications have been occurring between American and Russian representatives without the knowledge of Ukrainian or European allies.
The mysterious "K" referenced in Witkoff's message is believed to be Kirill Dmitriev, who has emerged as Vladimir Putin's unofficial envoy to Washington. The Kyiv-born, Stanford-educated economist represents an unlikely counterpart to Witkoff, a real estate mogul serving as Trump's Middle East envoy and trusted Ukraine peace plan negotiator.
The 28-Point Peace Proposal
According to the Axios report that prompted Witkoff's revealing tweet, the two envoys recently met in Florida to discuss a comprehensive 28-point peace plan.
The controversial proposal reportedly requires significant territorial concessions from Ukraine, including ceding approximately 15% of the Donbas region that Russia doesn't currently control. This territory would become a demilitarised zone under the proposed agreement.
Ukrainian sources have expressed strong opposition to the plan, describing it as containing "territorial concessions" and "reductions in military strength." One source characterised it as the latest attempt to "play the American government."
The timing of these revelations coincides with the arrival of senior US Department of War officials, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, in Kyiv. While their visit was previously scheduled to discuss drone technology and winter offensive plans, the focus shifted to briefing Ukrainian counterparts on the Russian-sponsored peace proposal.
International Reactions and Security Guarantees
The proposed peace plan bears striking resemblance to one floated by Vice President JD Vance before Trump's election victory, which was rejected as unworkable at the time.
European sources confirmed they were unaware of these Russian-American discussions, highlighting the secretive nature of the negotiations. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his visit to Turkey, offered carefully worded praise for Trump's peace efforts.
"Since the beginning of this year, we in Ukraine have supported every decisive step and the leadership of @POTUS, every strong and fair proposal aimed at ending this war," Zelenskyy stated. "And only President Trump and the United States have sufficient power to make this war come to an end."
The security guarantees that Trump indicated he might provide during Zelenskyy's last Washington visit remain undefined. However, the latest reporting suggests these guarantees would be conditional on Ukraine accepting the territorial concessions outlined in the 28-point plan.
Qatari and Turkish mediators are reportedly involved in the talks, with their successful multipoint peace plan for Gaza being considered as a potential model for Ukraine, despite the significant differences between the two conflicts.
