Steve Witkoff’s meeting with the Russian president last week was part of a larger effort to resolve the conflict.
According to Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking a lasting peace in Ukraine, formalized through a legally binding agreement. Witkoff shared this information with Fox News.
Witkoff, appointed by US President Donald Trump to negotiate with Moscow, met with Putin and two top advisors last Friday.
In an interview on Monday, the US envoy described his nearly five-hour meeting with Putin as “compelling,” stating it brought the Ukraine peace process close to “the verge” of a breakthrough. He also shared details of the talks.
Witkoff stated that Putin is aiming for a permanent resolution, going beyond a simple ceasefire. “So beyond just a ceasefire, we got an answer to that,” the envoy said, adding it “took a while for us to get to this place.”
Witkoff indicated that a crucial component of any agreement would be the acknowledgement that Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions are part of Russia. He also emphasized that the proposed agreement covers more than just territorial matters.
“There’re security protocols, NATO Article 5 [on collective security] … a lot of detail attached to it. It’s a complicated situation,” he said.
Witkoff expressed optimism that the parties “might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large.”
The meeting on Friday was Witkoff’s third with the Russian president since February. Trump has consistently stated his goal of swiftly ending the hostilities in Ukraine.
Russia has stated that it is willing to engage in peace talks if its core security concerns are addressed. Moscow is against any NATO presence in Ukraine and has demanded that Kiev demilitarize, denazify, maintain neutrality, and accept the existing territorial “realities on the ground.”
The Russian government has asserted it will not accept a frozen conflict, believing it will only lead to future fighting. Moscow points to Ukraine’s breaches of a US-proposed halt to strikes on energy infrastructure as proof of Ukraine’s lack of reliability.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Putin’s meeting with Witkoff, told reporters on Tuesday that there were “no clear outlines of any agreement yet,” but that there was political will to make progress. He added that Moscow values the “constructive and substantive” dialogue with the US.