Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, said on Friday it will invest T$15.9 billion ($509.94 million) to build its Kaohsiung headquarters in southern Taiwan.That would include a mixed-use commercial and office building and a residential tower, it said
US Envoy, In A 5-Minute Call, Briefed Russia How To Pitch Ukraine Peace Plan To Trump: Report
US Envoy, In A 5-Minute Call, Briefed Russia How To Pitch Ukraine Peace Plan To Trump: Report
Fresh from securing a landmark Gaza peace agreement, US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff held a discreet phone call last month with a top Kremlin official, signalling the early stages of a controversial effort to broker a similar settlement for the war in Ukraine. The conversation, recorded and reviewed by Bloomberg, sheds light on how the now-emerging 28-point peace proposal appears to have been shaped with input from Russian officials.
On 14 October, Witkoff spoke for just over five minutes with Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's principal foreign policy adviser. During the call, Witkoff proposed developing a Ukraine peace plan modelled on the “20-point Trump plan" that had been used as a diplomatic tool during the Gaza negotiations.
He urged Ushakov to have Putin raise the prospect directly with Donald Trump, and suggested setting up a call between the two leaders before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's scheduled White House visit later that week. Witkoff argued that using the Gaza success as an entry point would create “a really good call".
The White House and the Kremlin declined to comment on the exchange.
At the time, Trump's relations with Putin appeared strained. As he prepared to host Zelenskiy on 17 October, the US president was considering supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles and preparing fresh sanctions against Russia.
Yet two days after Witkoff's call with Ushakov, Trump and Putin spoke for two and a half hours. Trump later described the conversation as “very productive" and announced plans, still unrealised, to meet Putin in Budapest. Putin also, as advised, congratulated Trump on his Gaza breakthrough.
Following the leaders' exchange, Witkoff met Kremlin adviser Kirill Dmitriev in Miami between 24 to 26 October. Days later, Dmitriev and Ushakov discussed Russia's negotiating strategy in another recorded call, debating how assertively Moscow should push its demands.
Russia, they suggested, should request the “maximum" in initial submissions, fearing that the US might dilute their terms. Dmitriev remained confident that Washington would still shape the final proposal in a direction favourable to Moscow.
Bloomberg has not independently confirmed the exact proposals shared, but the structure bears strong resemblance to the 28-point US plan later presented to Kyiv.
The proposal, backed by Washington and welcomed by Putin as a potential foundation for peace, triggered alarm in Kyiv. Under the initial draft, Ukraine would be required to withdraw from parts of Donbas that Russia had failed to seize militarily, creating a demilitarised buffer zone effectively recognised as Russian territory.
Moscow would also gain de facto recognition of its claims over Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, while the front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would be frozen.
US officials reportedly warned Ukraine that vital intelligence support could be suspended if President Zelenskiy rejected the plan. Kyiv has since secured temporary concessions following talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Witkoff's call with Ushakov reveals the extent of informal diplomacy underlying the peace plan now under intense scrutiny. While the envoy expressed confidence that he held Trump's trust and “space and discretion to get to the deal," the ultimate shape and fate of the proposal remains deeply contested.
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Meanwhile, Trump announced on Wednesday that he is dispatching his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, as efforts to finalise a peace deal for Ukraine continue.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump said only “a few remaining points of disagreement" remain unresolved. Despite the planned diplomatic push, European leaders expressed scepticism about the prospects for a swift resolution, citing ongoing hostilities. Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities persisted even as discussions progressed, highlighting the tenuous nature of the negotiations and the urgent need for a sustainable settlement to end the conflict.
Source: News18
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Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, said on Friday it will invest T$15.9 billion ($509.94 million) to build its Kaohsiung headquarters in southern Taiwan.That would include a mixed-use commercial and office building and a residential tower, it said
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