Trump’s envoys press Ukraine to let Russian gas flow west again

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, have urged Ukraine to resume the transit of Russian gas to Europe as part of peace talks, the Kyiv Post reported¹. The proposal was first reported by the New York Times on 17 October and picked up by outlets in Ukraine and Asia the following morning^2,3,4. The two envoys raised the idea during talks with Ukrainian and European officials, according to accounts of that report⁵.

The Kyiv Post said the suggestion triggered pushback from Germany¹. None of the reports in this pack say what volumes would move, which route would carry them, or what Moscow would be asked to give in exchange.

Kyiv’s answer, so far

Ukraine’s president has not said whether he would accept. Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is “ready to negotiate” while adding that “we must not give up ground,” The Hill reported⁸. He also said Washington had proposed trilateral talks involving Russia⁷, and announced that a further meeting between the Ukrainian delegation and the two envoys could take place⁹.

The envoys have dealt directly with both capitals. A photograph published with one account places Witkoff in the Kremlin in Moscow in September 2026⁶, and another report dates a Witkoff meeting with Zelensky in Kyiv to 7 September 2026².

Why it matters to investors

A restart of pipeline transit would reverse the direction European gas policy has taken since the invasion. EA WorldView, which numbers the war’s days and logged this one as day 1697, framed the proposal as renewed European purchases of Russian gas and tied it to Trump’s recent arrangement to buy Russian diesel⁶.

The reporting also sets up a split between Washington and Berlin over how a settlement would be financed and supplied¹. For energy buyers, the open question is whether a proposal made by envoys becomes a negotiating position backed by the administration, and whether European governments would license the flows.

What to watch

Three things: whether the meeting Zelensky announced between his delegation and Witkoff and Kushner is scheduled⁹; whether the trilateral format he described takes shape⁷; and whether Germany’s objection hardens into a common European position¹. Zelensky’s own framing, ready to talk but not to concede territory, is the constraint every version of the plan runs into⁸.