Less than 48 hours after dinner with a negotiator sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Washington last week, Steve Whitchov, the American special envoy who leads negotiations with Moscow, sat with President Donald Trump in the White House and broadcast a clear message.
Wittakov said that the fastest way to mediate the ceasefire in Ukraine is a strategic support that would give Russia with the possession of four Ukrainian regions that tried illegally in 2022, two American authorities and five people familiar with discussions.
This is the point that Witkoff previously defended – and a public design in an interview with a podcast with Tucker Carlson Media, the conservative last month – but the Ukrainian government has repeatedly refused and ignored some American and European authorities as a maximum Russian request.
At the meeting with Trump, General Keith Keel, who was sent from the President to Ukraine, responded to Witkeov, saying that Ukraine, although it is ready to negotiate with some terms related to the disputed lands, will never agree to give him unilaterally the possession of these areas to Russia.
The meeting ended without Trump a decision to change the United States’ strategy. Wittouf traveled to Russia on Friday (11) To meet Putin.
Trump’s authorities are increasingly compatible with how to break the impasse between Ukraine and Russia, with Witkeov and Alag – who prefers direct support for Ukraine – does not agree on the best way to follow up, according to American officials and four Western diplomats.
The Witkeov office, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine and the Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to the requests of comments.
In a break with regular security measures, he called Witkoff Kirill Demich, the Russian envoy Under the United States sanctions after Russia’s invasion of dinner at his personal residence before the White House meeting.
This launched the alarm inside the White House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to two people familiar with this situation. The American authorities avoid receiving the Russian authorities in their homes – which have advanced intelligence resources.
Dinner was rescheduled and instead in the White House.
Wittakov, an old friend of Trump who helped secure important diplomatic victories for the president, has achieved some support from the Republican Party in Ukraine, but his proposals caused discontent among other Republicans who believe that the government has become very sharp for Moscow.
Some Republicans in Congress were very concerned about the apparent position in Witkeov in an interview with Karlson to the extent that many of them called him the National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, of the complaint, according to a person familiar with the calls.
Since he took office in January, Trump has changed US foreign policy by pressuring Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, and at the same time, it has commended many measures adopted by the Biden government to punish Russia for a widespread invasion by 2022.
Some American and European authorities are afraid that Witkeov follows Trump’s strategy, the Russians benefit from their lack of experience at the negotiating table, according to the authorities and more than ten other people familiar with internal government deliberations, including Western diplomats.
“He needs to leave, and Rubio needs to be replaced.” The letter, which was sent to a group that includes Republican donors and saw Reuters, was written after an interview with Carlson and a look at Fox News, and she criticized Witkoff on charges of Breast Putin.
Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to mediate the ceasefire in Ukraine until May, on the pretext that the United States should end a struggle that killed thousands of people and risks direct confrontation between the United States and Russia with nuclear weapons.
But two partial ceasefire agreements-one on the energy infrastructure and one in the Black Sea, stopped the president and the president was frustrated because of his lack of progress.
