Top Trump adviser suggests ‘permanent peace’ between Russia, Ukraine could be imminent after high-stakes talks with Putin
President Trump’s special?Middle East?envoy Steve Witkoff?claimed?his high-stakes talks with Vladimir Putin?last week?were “compelling” — and insisted the Russian leader was open to a “permanent peace” deal with Ukraine?despite Witkoff coming home empty handed from his discussions on Friday.
Witkoff,?68,?sat down with Putin,?72,?in St. Petersburg amid the Trump administration’s efforts to spearhead a deal to end the three-year war.?Ukraine?—?handled by a different special presidential envoy, Gen. Keith Kellogg?—?has already agreed to a full cease-fire, but so far Witkoff has had no luck in luring the Kremlin to a deal.
“I think we might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large,” Witkoff told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, adding “it took a while for us to get to this place.”
Witkoff added that after five hours of talks with Putin, he saw a deal “emerging.”
“This peace deal is about these so-called five territories, but there’s so much more to it,” he said,?referencing the eastern flank of Ukraine that Russia wants to annex.
After Witkoff’s talk with Putin — whom the longtime real estate investor said he does not “regard as a bad guy” — the envoy pitched to Trump that the US should support Russia’s aim to take those territories, which together make up about 25% of Ukraine.? .??
However, Kellogg pushed back against the proposal, pointing out that Kyiv would never sign off on such an agreement, according to sources familiar with the discussion.
Witkoff added that he saw “a possibility to reshape the Russian-United States relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities that I think give real stability to the region too.”
Earlier Monday, Trump?described Russia’s assault on Ukraine as “Biden’s war” —?distancing himself from the conflict as his efforts to bring it to a speedy end have been frustrated.
“The War between Russia and Ukraine is Biden’s war, not mine. I just got here, and for four years during my term, had no problem in preventing it from happening,” he posted on Truth Social.
“President Putin, and everyone else, respected your President! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WAR, BUT AM WORKING DILIGENTLY TO GET THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION TO STOP.”
The Kremlin, meanwhile, described the talks as useful and effective — but said the two had not substantively discussed a possible meeting between Putin and Trump.
Asked if a Putin-Trump meeting was inching nearer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television the two powers were “walking along this path together very patiently” but that trying to restore relations would take serious and painstaking work.
He suggested that such a meeting “requires more work, requires more time.”
Details of the talks emerged after Zelensky pleaded with Trump during a “60 Minutes” interview to visit his country to see the war’s devastation firsthand.
“We want you to come,” the Ukrainian president said.
“You think you understand what’s going on here. Okay, we respect your position. You understand. But, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.”
“Come, look, and then let’s — let’s move with a plan how to finish the war,” he added.
