US Ambassador to NATO says Ukraine and Russia 'closer than ever' to peace deal
Photo: US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker (Getty Images)
Ukraine and Russia are reportedly "closer than ever" to a peace deal, with a complex, multifaceted effort underway that includes active US involvement, said US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker at the 2025 Doha Forum in Qatar.
"We're closer than we've ever been to peace," Whitaker said in response to a question about when a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia might be signed.
He noted that US President Donald Trump considers the situation "tough." Both sides, according to Whitaker, are literally "turning up their noses" and refusing to compromise.
"You don't go into a butcher shop halfway through when the sausage is being made and complain that you don't like... I just feel like we're all on the same page. With Secretary Rubio involved in the process, I'm fairly confident that all perspectives will be considered. But at the same time, we need to find out if there's a deal that can even be made," he said.
Whitaker confirmed that the US 28-point peace plan has now been divided into four separate tracks. NATO and the European Union are working independently of the peace process in Ukraine and of direct US-Ukraine negotiations.
"And those are all happening in real time," he added.
Meanwhile, Trump recently said that his negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held productive talks in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, emphasizing that the meeting was successful and left the delegation with a positive impression.
After the sixth round of talks with the US, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov indicated that a peace agreement could be possible, but emphasized that Russia must first take meaningful steps toward de-escalation. Further discussions of the peace plan are expected to continue over the weekend.
