Photo: US Special Presidential Envoy for Near East Affairs Steven Witkoff (Getty Images) Author: Valery Savitsky
The result of the current stage of negotiations between Ukraine and the United States is the establishment of a temporary truce for 30 days, during which the parties will discuss a permanent ceasefire.
This was stated by US Special Representative for the Near East Stephen Witkoff, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing an interview the official gave to journalist Tucker Carlson.
“The ultimate goal is a 30-day ceasefire, during which we will discuss a permanent ceasefire. We are already close to that, but a 30-day ceasefire is where we have to figure out what all the conditions are on the battlefield, which is why I started with Kursk,” he said.
The special envoy denied the information about the unsuccessful conversation between Trump and Putin. He called the agreement between Ukraine and Russia to stop attacks on energy infrastructure “a big step forward.”
“They (Trump and Putin – ed.) never talked about this before. Now we are talking about it. They never talked about restoring the moratorium on mutual strikes in the Black Sea. This will be implemented within the next week. There are some details that need to be discussed, but this has become part of this conversation. These are very important things,” Witkoff said.
He also repeated the message of US President Donald Trump about the alleged encirclement of part of the Ukrainian military in the Kursk region, which was denied by President Zelensky, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense.
The special envoy also added that in addition to the situation in the Kursk region, there is a border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation that is two thousand kilometers long. According to him, 50-80 armed clashes occur on it one way or another, and it is necessary to discuss the conditions for ending them.
“Our technical teams have been gathering in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia – ed.) since Monday. This is very important. There is a lot of good, positive talk coming from Russia about their willingness to look at all of these different issues. And Zelensky had a great conversation with the President of the United States the day after Trump had a conversation with Putin. And that shows that they have some flexibility in how they think about how to end this conflict,” Witkoff said.
The special envoy noted that he does not want to appear to be an eternal optimist, but he is very optimistic that the United States will be able to reconcile both sides.
“We have significantly narrowed the range of issues. Yes, I am an optimist,” he concluded.
Negotiations on a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia
After taking office, US President Donald Trump began an active negotiation process to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.
On March 18, Trump held telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the leaders agreed on the first steps toward peace.
During the conversation, Putin effectively rejected the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire along the entire front line. Instead, the dictator proposed that Ukraine and Russia stop attacking energy facilities and infrastructure.
At the same time, Putin noted that during the ceasefire, Ukraine must stop mobilization, and Western countries must stop providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces with military assistance and intelligence information.
The next day, March 19, Trump had a telephone conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the conversation, Zelensky agreed to stop attacks on Russian infrastructure and energy, but stressed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would respond in kind if the Russians violated these agreements.
On Monday, March 24, U.S. and Russian delegations will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss expanding the partial ceasefire.
Read urgent and important news about Russia's war against Ukraine on the RBC-Ukraine channel in Telegram.