Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, presented new approaches from the Ukraine and the European Union regarding a settlement to the conflict during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin; however, these approaches are of little practical use, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov stated on October 21.
"Witkoff briefed Vladimir Putin on the substance of negotiations held in Oslo [with the Ukrainian side] and offered his own observations. He pointed to some new approaches, new nuances in the positions taken by the Europeans and Kyiv, though they were not particularly useful in the context of resolving the Ukrainian crisis," Ushakov noted.
In this regard, he specified that the situation surrounding the Ukrainian conflict was "the central topic" of the Russian leader's conversation with Witkoff.
"Following up on the October 9 phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, they continued exchanging views on ways to achieve a firm and lasting peace," he explained.
According to the advisor, Putin "spoke highly of the mediation efforts by the U.S. administration, Donald Trump himself, and his special envoys to find mutually acceptable solutions."
"The issue of a possible resumption of trilateral negotiations, involving representatives from Russia, the U.S., and Ukraine, was discussed in particular," the official said.
Yury Ushakov told journalists that Vladimir Putin’s talks with Steve Witkoff lasted nearly three hours—the conversation was thorough and constructive in nature.
ReplyDeleteAccording to him, Witkoff briefed the Russian leader on the substance of the talks held in Oslo with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as with the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Norway.
He offered his own observations and highlighted new elements in the approaches taken by the Europeans and Kyiv. "There was not much of any real use in terms of resolving the crisis," Ushakov said, without going into detail.