Witkoff discusses Ukraine's territories with Putin, suggests Russia may retain some

The US special envoy visited Russia last week. Witkoff confirmed that he spoke with Putin about the issue of territories.

In an interview with the WSJ, Witkoff emphasized that in their discussions, Putin was fixated on Ukrainian territories. According to the American official, Russia may get some of the regions, but not all of them.

At the same time, Witkoff suggested that Ukraine “may worry less about some regions” if they are Russian-speaking.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Ukraine will not give up the territories occupied by Russia and will not recognize them as part of Russia.

Witkoff's visit to Putin

On April 11, Steve Witkoff, the US President's Special Representative for the Middle East and a participant in the negotiation process on Russia's war against Ukraine, traveled to Russia. In St. Petersburg, he met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and their meeting lasted almost five hours. The main topic of the talks was Ukraine.

After the meeting with Putin, the US special envoy said that the key to the so-called peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is the issue of the “five territories.”

This peace agreement is about the so-called five territories, but there's a lot more to it. There are security protocols, there's Article 5 of NATO, a lot of details,” Witkoff said.

Zelenskyy's reaction to Witkoff's words

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that for Ukraine, the recognition of any Ukrainian territories as Russian is a “red line.” He emphasized that only Ukraine can make decisions about its territories.

Later, the head of state also said that Witkoff had accepted the strategy of the Russian side. Zelenskyy added that the US special envoy "consciously or unconsciously spreading Russian narratives".