President Trump said he met with a senior Russian official in Washington on Thursday and promised a Ukraine peace deal that “might involve all of Europe,” a sign that the president remains involved in talks to end the war even after his party was trounced in the midterm elections.
Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had met with “the head person of Russia” who was at the White House earlier in the day, an apparent reference to Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy for President Vladimir V. Putin who had come to Washington for an event with Melania Trump, the first lady.
“I can’t tell you what I discussed,” Mr. Trump told reporters, “but I’m just telling you, there’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine.”
But even as this fall’s flurry of diplomacy over Ukraine enters its third month, there is little sign that the Trump administration’s efforts are bringing the war closer to an end.
Instead, Mr. Trump has been widely criticized by Democrats, as well as some Republicans, for being too solicitous of Mr. Putin and refusing to put more pressure on Russia. Asked in the Oval Office on Thursday about Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians, Mr. Trump asserted that Ukraine was also culpable. “The other way, they kill, too,” he said.
Mr. Dmitriev, the Russian envoy, was hosted at the White House on Thursday by Mrs. Trump, who had gathered Russian and Ukrainian officials to discuss a recent cease-fire she helped broker to evacuate a Russian-occupied Ukrainian town, Oleshky. Mr. Trump said he had met only with the Russian envoy and not with the Ukrainians.
There was no immediate confirmation from Mr. Dmitriev that he had met with Mr. Trump. Mr. Dmitriev, who also runs Russia’s flagship state investment fund, has led the Kremlin’s effort to pitch business deals to the Trump administration and has sought sanctions relief for his fund in those talks.
Mr. Trump’s comments came after Mr. Putin met with Steve Witkoff, a White House special envoy, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Oct. 21, before scheduled peace talks between U.S., Ukrainian and Russian officials in the United Arab Emirates next week.
“It might involve all of Europe,” Mr. Trump went on, describing a potential Ukraine peace deal. “It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement, and everyone is going to be thrilled.”
Mr. Trump’s comments seemed to be a reference to U.S. efforts to include broader European security issues in the peace talks, an approach apparently aimed at addressing some of Mr. Putin’s demands over the relationship between Russia and NATO in Europe.
Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law who has also been involved in the Ukraine talks, said on Thursday that U.S. officials had discussed “security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader European security architecture” in talks with European and Ukrainian officials in Brussels earlier in the day.
“Our objective is to address the security concerns of all sides through practical, mutually agreed arrangements that reduce the risk of future conflict,” Mr. Kushner said.
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