US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is to travel to Berlin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders as the push to find a peace plan for Ukraine continues.
A senior official in Washington confirmed to dpa that Witkoff would travel to Berlin over the weekend for meetings with the leaders, but did not provide details of the timing or format of his talks.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is due to meet with Zelensky and a number of European leaders, including the heads of the European Union and NATO on Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to attend the meeting at the Chancellery.
The meeting is to take place in an expanded format of the so-called Washington group, which includes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
US President Donald Trump had previously left open whether the United States would participate in a meeting in Europe.
Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022 with help from Western allies.
Since November, when a US proposal outlining a potential framework for ending the war became public, several rounds of discussions have taken place between Washington, Kiev and European partners, with various amendments and counterproposals made.
Critics had described the initial US plan as a "wish list" for Russia.
A key issue is the set of security guarantees the US and others would offer Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement.
