Photo: US Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff (Getty Images) Author: Natalia Yurchenko
US Special Representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff gave an interview to controversial host Tucker Carlson. Witkoff talked about Ukraine, in particular about the ceasefire, joining NATO and the “central question” of the war.
What exactly the special representative of US President Donald Trump spoke about is in the RBC-Ukraine article below.
Steve Witkoff is the US President's Special Representative for the Middle East and a participant in the process of settling the Russian war against Ukraine. The White House explained that Witkoff is responsible for contacts with the Russian side. Since his appointment, he has flown to Moscow twice.
Trump's special envoy gave an interview to controversial former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has previously repeated Russian propaganda points about Ukraine.
Carlson is also known for having recorded interviews with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the full-scale war.
About the truce
Witkoff said the goal of the current U.S.-Ukraine talks is to establish a 30-day ceasefire. After that, a permanent ceasefire will be discussed.
“The ultimate goal is a 30-day ceasefire, during which we will discuss a permanent ceasefire. We are not far from that, but a 30-day ceasefire is where we have to figure out what all the conditions are on the battlefield,” he said.
The US special envoy also noted that the parties had never discussed a ceasefire before.
“They never talked about restoring the moratorium on mutual strikes in the Black Sea. That will be implemented within the next week. There are some details that need to be discussed, but that has become part of that conversation. Those are very important things,” he said.
“The Central Question” of the War
Speaking about the occupied territories of Ukraine, Steve Witkoff said that “the biggest problem in this conflict is the so-called four regions.” In his opinion, we are talking about: “Donbas, Crimea, Lugansk and two others.”
“These are Russian-speaking areas, and there have been referendums where the majority of people have voted to be under Russian rule. In my opinion, that is the key point in the conflict. That is the first thing that needs to be resolved. And we are having very, very positive conversations about that right now,” Witkoff said.
During the discussion, Tucker Carlson interrupted Witkoff and said, “And Russia controls them. In fact, some of these territories are now, from the Russian point of view, part of Russia.”
“Right. That's right. But that's always been the issue. Yeah, and nobody wants to talk about it. It's the elephant in the room,” Trump's spokesman responded.
In his opinion, the “elephant in the room” is “the constitutional questions within Ukraine about what they can give up their territory for.”
“The Russians have de facto control over these territories. The question is, will the world recognize that these are Russian territories? Will this end? Will Zelensky survive politically if he recognizes this? This is the central question in the conflict. Absolutely,” Wittkoff added.
It is worth noting that as of March 2025, the territories of Donbas, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Kharkiv regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula, are under Russian occupation.
NATO and guarantees for Ukraine
According to Witkoff, the Ukrainian side has allegedly essentially agreed that joining NATO is not a realistic scenario: “On NATO, I think Zelensky, and he has his right-hand man, Yermak, I think they have already pretty much agreed that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO.”
But Witkoff noted that the question of providing Ukraine with Article 5 guarantees without joining NATO is an open question.
“There has been a lot of talk about whether Ukraine can still get the so-called Article 5 protection that all NATO countries have. Like, can Ukraine get some form of that protection – either from the United States or from European countries – even without full membership in the Alliance. And I think that's a topic for discussion ,” he said.
However, Trump's special representative effectively rejected Ukraine's membership in the Alliance if a peace agreement with Russia is concluded.
“But in general it is already recognized that if there is to be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, then Ukraine should not be a member of NATO . I think this is already accepted as a fact,” Witkoff believes.
Trump and Putin meeting
Witkoff said a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin could take place in the next few months.
“I'm the president's envoy. And the president had a great relationship with Putin in his first term. So I think Putin understood that it would be difficult for the president to come to Russia now. I think they'll meet in the coming months ,” Witkoff said.
He also said that Putin gave Trump a portrait painted by a “leading Russian artist” and asked Witkoff to pass it on.
“Putin told me a story, Tucker, about how after the president was shot, he went to his local church, met with the priest, and prayed for Trump. Not because he was the president of the United States, but because he was his friend, and he was praying for his friend,” Witkoff said.
About elections in Ukraine
During Steve Witkoff expressed his belief that elections in Ukraine will be held.
“Yes, they will. They agreed to it. There will be elections in Ukraine. And I agree with you, I think Zelensky is doing everything possible,” he said.
At the same time, the US President's special representative reiterated that Russia considers the current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “not legitimate enough” to conclude a peace agreement.
“The Russian position is that Zelensky is not elected, which means they cannot sign any agreement with him,” Witkoff said.
Let us recall that on March 18, US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation. The main topic was the Russian war against Ukraine. More about that conversation and how Russia is dragging out negotiations on Ukraine – in our article.
Read urgent and important news about Russia's war against Ukraine on the RBC-Ukraine channel in Telegram.