Witkoff and Kushner Set to Meet Ukrainian Officials in Miami Today on a 'Unified' Peace Proposal

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to sit down with Ukrainian representatives in Miami today, Friday, Oct. 9. The goal is a "unified proposal" for ending the war in Ukraine, according to an American source familiar with the plan who spoke to Reuters.

A senior administration official gave The Epoch Times the same description on Oct. 8: a "new, unified proposal that is focused on all aspects of the conflict to try to end the war."

Who is in the room

Kyiv will be represented by chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, Rustem Umerov and top negotiator David Arakhamia, the source said. The U.S. side adds representatives from the White House National Security Council and the Treasury Department.

The Americans also invited national security advisors from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, plus officials from NATO and the European Union. The senior administration official described the European group as the E3 countries joined by the EU and NATO.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the meeting on Oct. 8. "Meetings are expected to take place over two days," he told reporters, according to The Kyiv Independent. "And we are counting on a European team to join our negotiating group and the American negotiating group."

What is on the table

The source said the agenda covers security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war prosperity plan and "other aspects of the conflict." The working session is meant to build on "new ideas and proposals that American negotiators began developing with the Russians and Ukrainians during their recent visit to the region."

That visit was roughly a month ago, when Witkoff and Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy separately in Moscow and Kyiv.

The Treasury presence points to the money side. A prosperity plan means reconstruction and financing, and the Europeans would be asked to carry much of it. The source said European officials have told Washington they are frustrated with high energy costs and other major financial impacts of the war.

"It will be a tough winter if the war does not stop," the source said. "So, the United States is trying to mediate with the sides with the goal of creating a unified proposal."

A stalemate with a clock on it

Speaking Thursday alongside Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel, Rubio said the war "seems to be at a stalemate, and stalemates are very dangerous." He warned that without a deal the fighting could grow into a "much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict."

The war began in February 2022. Both President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy said when they met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22 that it is important to end it before winter. Trump said last month he believed both Putin and Zelenskyy wanted the war over and that Putin was willing to meet on a deal. He also suggested it could end sooner than people think.

So far that has not happened. Trump's efforts to resolve the conflict have not succeeded, and the administration has been trying to arrange trilateral talks among Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Oct. 5 that Kyiv expects Washington to be able to organize such a meeting this month.

What comes next

Trump said this week he plans to speak with Putin by phone soon. No date has been given.

Today's Miami session is a meeting between the U.S., Ukraine and European governments. Russia is not at the table, and no one has said whether Moscow has seen the ideas being drafted. A unified Western proposal only matters if Putin agrees to a trilateral meeting or a call that moves it forward. The next signal is whether the Trump-Putin call happens and whether the October trilateral Zelenskyy is counting on gets a date.