Ceasefire, NATO, war's 'central issue': Steve Witkoff on Ukraine in a new interview

Steve Witkoff is the US President’s Special Envoy for the Middle East and a participant in the process of resolving Russia’s war against Ukraine. The White House has explained that Witkoff is responsible for contacts with the Russian side. Since his appointment, he has traveled to Moscow twice.

Trump’s special envoy gave an interview to controversial former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The latter has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda narratives about Ukraine.

Carlson is also known for interviewing Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the full-scale war.

On the ceasefire

Witkoff stated that the goal of the current US-Ukraine negotiations is to establish a 30-day ceasefire, after which a permanent truce will be discussed.

The US is not far from this, but the 30-day ceasefire is where they need to clarify all conditions on the battlefield, he said.

The US envoy also noted that the parties had never previously discussed a ceasefire.

"They've never talked about reinstituting the Black Sea moratorium on maritime hits... Now we're down to, and that going to be implemented over the next week or so. There's some details that need to be discussed, but that became a part of that conversation. That's big stuff, really big stuff," he said.

The 'largest issue' of the war

Speaking about the occupied territories of Ukraine, Steve Witkoff said that "the largest issue in that conflict is the so-called four regions." He means Donbas, Crimea, Luhansk, and "two others."

"They are Russian-speaking, there have been referendums (illegal, held by Russia- ed.). I think that's the key issue in the conflict," Witkoff stated, adding this is the first thing that needs to be resolved and now the US is having "very, very positive" discussions about it.

Tucker Carlson interrupted Witkoff and said: "And Russia controls that. In fact, some of those territories are now, from the Russian perspective, part of Russia."

"Correct. That's correct. But this has always been an issue. And it's sort of no one wants to talk about it. That's the elephant in the room," Trump’s representative responded.

In his view, the "elephant in the room" is "the constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to."

"The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Will it end up? Can Zelenskyy survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict. Absolutely that," Witkoff added.

As of March 2025, the territories under Russian occupation include parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula.

NATO and security guarantees for Ukraine

According to Witkoff, the Ukrainian side has allegedly come to terms with the fact that NATO membership is not a realistic scenario:

"On NATO, I think that Zelenskyy — and he's got a right-hand guy, Yermak — I think that they've largely conceded that they're not going to be a member of NATO."

However, Witkoff noted that the issue of providing Ukraine with NATO-style security guarantees under Article 5, without formal membership, remains open.

"There's been all kinds of talk about whether they could still have, quote-unquote, what is called Article 5 protection, which gives... Every NATO country has this Article 5 protection. Whether Ukraine could have that in some respect from the United States or European nations without being a member of NATO. And I think that's open for discussion," he said.

However, Trump’s special envoy dismissed Ukraine’s NATO membership if a peace deal with Russia is reached.

"But I think it's accepted that Ukraine and Russia - if there's going to be a peace deal - Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO. I think that's largely accepted," Witkoff stated.

Trump-Putin meeting

Witkoff said that a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin could take place in the coming months.

"I am an emissary of the president. And the president had great relationship with Vladimir Putin in his first term. So I think Vladimir Putin knew it was going to be hard for the president at this time to come over to Russia. I think they're going to meet in the coming months," Witkoff said.

He also revealed that Putin sent Trump a portrait from a "leading Russian artist" and asked Witkoff to deliver it.

"Putin told me a story, Tucker, about how when the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest, and prayed for the president. Not because he was the president of the United States, he could become the president of the United states, but because he has a friendship with him, and he was praying for his friend," Witkoff said.

On elections in Ukraine

Steve Witkoff expressed confidence that elections in Ukraine would take place.

"Yes. There will be. They've agreed to it. There will be elections in Ukraine. And I agree with you, I think Zelenskyy is trying his best," he said.

At the same time, the US special envoy repeated that Russia considers Ukraine’s current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "not legitimate" to sign a peace agreement.

Russia’s position is that Zelenskyy was not elected, and therefore, they cannot sign any agreement with him, Witkoff stated.

On March 18, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had a phone call. The main topic was Russia’s war against Ukraine. More about the talks and how Russia is dragging out negotiations on Ukraine is detailed in our article.