US Envoy Kushner: The diesel deal is an effort to soften Russia.
- According to three people familiar with the meeting, Trump's envoys told Ukrainian officials on Friday that a deal to allow Russian diesel exports is part of a bid to entice Russia back into negotiations after previous attempts to launch sustained talks to end the war were unsuccessful.
- According to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner told the Ukrainians in a meeting in Miami that Russian President Vladimir Putin was unwilling to negotiate an end to his 4 1/2-year-old war in Ukraine, and that the deal announced last week could help restart trilateral talks.