(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) White House envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that President Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to discuss the potential for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“The two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week,” Witkoff said in an interview with CNN. “The two sides are a lot closer today than they were a few weeks ago. We narrowed the differences.”
Witkoff met with Putin and Moscow last week following the US announcement that it was resuming military aid and all intelligence to Ukraine and that Ukraine was ready to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
Putin has welcomed the idea of a ceasefire but said it must include several conditions, including a guarantee that the US wouldn’t ship any new weapons to Ukraine during the truce. He also wants Ukraine not to mobilize new troops or train its forces.
Other Russian officials have made clear that they view the US-Ukraine ceasefire proposal as a chance for Ukraine to rearm and stabilize its lines of defense since the offer came as Russia has the clear advantage on the battlefield and continues to make gains in eastern Ukraine. Russia has also almost finished pushing Ukrainian forces out of Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
Trump said on Friday that he asked Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers encircled in Kursk. “I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Putin responded by saying the Ukrainian troops should surrender. “[In] the event of a ceasefire and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and a worthy treatment in accordance with the norms of international law and the laws of the Russian Federation,” he said.
Russia has also made clear that for any long-term peace deal, the US and Ukraine would have to recognize the four Ukrainian Oblasts annexed by Moscow as Russian territory. For their part, Ukrainian officials are insisting they won’t cede any territory.
Despite the differences, Witkoff said he expects a ceasefire to be reached “within weeks.” The idea is to reach a truce and then start negotiating the terms of a long-term deal.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
