Putin ‘accepts the philosophy of President Trump’ on ending war in Ukraine: US special envoy
Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin has indicated he “accepts the philosophy of President Trump’’ when it comes to ending the Ukraine war, and the pair will talk by phone this week, says US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The US and Ukraine reached an agreement last week on a plan for a 30-day cease-fire to allow broader negotiations for an end to the war, a proposal that Russia refused to accept at the time. Trump and Putin are set to discuss the proposal this week, Witkoff told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“I don’t want to put words in President Putin’s mouth, but I think he’s indicated that he accepts the philosophy of President Trump,” Witkoff told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, several days after he met with the Russian dictator.
“President Trump wants to see an end to this. I think President Putin wants to see an end to this,” Witkoff said.
The US envoy met with Putin on Thursday for about four hours to discuss the war. The Russian leader has publicly stated that he agrees with the concept of pursuing a cease-fire but stopped short of backing Trump’s proposal unconditionally, caveating that there are “nuances.”
Many observers believe that the Russians want a lot of the key issues decided in a cease-fire deal before agreeing to it even as a stop-gap measure. The Ukrainians, by contrast, have pushed for a quick cease-fire followed by negotiations for a broader agreement to end the war.
One of the key sticking points in ending the conflict has been control of the four key territories Russia has annexed since the war began three years ago: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow still does not have total control over the four territories, despite its best efforts.
Witkoff refused to directly answer when asked by CNN if the US would recognize Russian control over any of the territories it has seized, calling it “a little bit premature to get into that now.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been adamant that he won’t recognize Russian-occupied territory.
Trump leaned hard on Zelensky to get the Ukrainians to back the cease-fire deal, with the White House even briefly freezing military aid and some intelligence-sharing to Ukraine.
Zelensky and Trump also famously clashed at the White House late last month over talks.
After Ukraine agreed to the cease-fire proposal, the Trump administration restored military aid and intelligence-sharing to Kyiv.
Ahead of Trump’s forthcoming talk with Putin, the president said Gen. Keith Kellogg would serve only as his special envoy to Ukraine. Kellog previously served as an envoy for both Ukraine and Russia, though the Kremlin seemed wary of dealing with him.
“General Kellogg, a Highly Respected Military Expert, will deal directly with President Zelensky and Ukrainian leadership,” Trump said Saturday.
Secretary of State Marco also has talked with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the next steps in the endeavor to end the war.
“I think everybody has to focus on the progress that’s been made since the president was inaugurated,” Witkoff said of negotiations. “Nobody expected progress this fast. This is a very complicated situation, and yet we’re bridging the gap between two sides.”
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