Unlock the White House View Newspaper FREE
Your guide to what the 2024 American elections mean for Washington and the world
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have settled a call about the Russia-Ukraine war next week, one US official said, while Washington seeks to mediate a truce agreement.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN on Sunday that he had a “positive” meeting with Putin and that Russian and Ukrainian parties “are much closer today” in negotiations.
“I expect there will be a call with both presidents this week and we are also continuing to engage and talk to the Ukrainians,” he said.
Comments come after the US and its G7 partners on Friday warned Moscow that they could expand sanctions and use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, as Trump seeks to win over Putin in his ceasefire proposal. The joint statement followed a week in which Kyiv was signed on the 30-day ceasefire, but Moscow signaled the reluctance to do so immediately.
Witkoff told CNN that he had proven improvements in the ceasefire negotiations. The sides were before “miles away,” he said.
After talks in Saudi Arabia led by US national security adviser Mike Waltz and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff’s “equally positive” meeting with Putin, “we have narrowed the differences between them and now we sat at the table,” he added.
The White House and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The Prophet told the CBS that the negotiations were complex, including numerous angles and large territory, including a “main confrontation zone” in the Kursk region, a nuclear reactor that supplied electricity in Ukraine and access to the ports.
“There are so many elements for the implementation of the ceasefire here,” Witkoff said, adding that “it includes how to force people not to fight with one another over a 2,000 -kilometer border.”
He also seemed to reject a statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who argued that Russia “does not seem to be sincerely seeking peace.”
Witkoff refused to comment on Macron’s remarks, but added: “I think it is unfortunate when people make those kinds of appreciation, and they do not necessarily have first -hand knowledge. I saw a constructive effort for a long period of time to discuss the specifics of what is happening in this field.”
Asked when he thinks there will be a deal, Witkoff quoted Trump, who said it would take weeks.
“I disagree with him,” Prophet CNN told.
