Donald Trump defends Ukraine envoy Steve Witkoff after leak alleging he advised Kremlin aide

Donald Trump has defended special envoy Steve Witkoff as doing "what a deal maker does" after a leaked recording appeared to show him advising a Russian official how to appeal to the US president.

It comes as a senior Kremlin official confirms Mr Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed.

Mr Witkoff's role in the peace efforts were back in the spotlight on Tuesday, local time, when a report indicated he coached Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's aide, on how the Russian leader should pitch Mr Trump on the Ukraine peace plan.

Mr Trump described Mr Witkoff's reported approach to the Russians in the call as "standard" negotiating procedure.

"He's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida.

Mr Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, has insisted Kremlin officials still have not seen a US peace proposal, even though representatives of the US, Russia and Ukraine held talks in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.

"Contact is ongoing, including via telephone, but no one has yet sat down at a round table and discussed this point-by-point. That hasn't happened," Mr Ushakov told Russian state media.

Ukrainian officials did not confirm whether US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who in recent weeks has played a high-profile role in the peace efforts, would be in Kyiv in the coming days, as Mr Trump has indicated.

Mr Trump's plan for ending the war became public last week, setting off a spate of diplomatic manoeuvring.

The initial version appeared heavily slanted toward Russian demands for halting its invasion of its neighbour. 

After weekend talks in Geneva between US and Ukrainian officials, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the plan could be "workable," although key points remain unresolved. 

A Ukrainian official said Mr Zelenskyy hoped to meet with Mr Trump in coming days.

European countries, who are alarmed by Russia's aggression and see their own future at stake in negotiations over Ukraine, are fighting to make their voice heard in the talks as the United States takes the lead.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday that Europe wants the war to end as quickly as possible.

"But an agreement negotiated by great powers without the approval of the Ukrainians and without the approval of the Europeans won't be a basis for a real, sustainable peace in Ukraine," he told politicians in Berlin.

AP/ABC