Yesterday Breitbart News published its second report on an interview with Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff recorded on May 8 at the White House, focusing this time on Trump’s intentions towards Ukraine and Russia. Much of what Witkoff said then, appears to have been playing out in the days since. Of note is that Witkoff said that he hopes a peace summit at which Ukrainian acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in person to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine, comes soon.
“I think it’s entirely possible,” Witkoff said of a Zelenskyy-Putin peace summit possibility. “I think if the U.S. pulls back from this conflict, in other words doesn’t want to be involved with it and says it’s not my war and I’ve tried to do my best, I think that’s a bad result for everybody. ... I think the Russians actually do want a peaceful settlement, and both sides are trying to figure out what that means for them. Our job is to put them in a room together and show them that the alternatives to a peaceful resolution here are bad for everybody. That’s our job.”
“The President has said, and we believe in what he has said, it’s a stupid war. It didn’t need to happen. …” Witkoff further told Breitbart News: “So, I think that we have to put everybody in a room. Solutions work when there are direct talks. We need to get the Ukrainians and the Russians at the same table. ... We have to get everybody thinking that the responsible way to address this is a diplomatic solution. If that’s what you want, if you, Russia, want that, if you believe in the upsides for your society in ending this war, and you, Ukraine, want it too, we need to get you physically into a room. And I’ve offered to go spend as much time as they want and mediate that. What we’re suggesting is direct talks between the two parties sooner rather than later.”
Witkoff noted that Trump has “issued an ultimatum” to the two parties that they need to make progress on a lasting peace, otherwise the U.S. is walking away. Major remaining issues to be hammered out include details over the territory in Ukraine, a key nuclear power plant that is currently offline, and Ukrainian access to important waterways.
Witkoff also particularly stressed that there’s no peace agreement without involving Putin: “There is no deal without President Putin’s sign-off. He is the leader of the Russian Federation, so the notion of not talking to President Putin is somehow something people are against, I don’t understand that logic. We need to talk to everybody. Any stakeholders in this conflict, we have to have a conversation with them—and we can’t accept another person’s version of what they think. We have to hear it for ourselves. That’s how you get to a solution. You put yourself in their shoes, you understand what they need, and how can we accommodate that? Can we effect those sorts of compromises? That happens from knowing the other person. Those are the assessments that the president has asked people like me to make on his behalf, because he has to be the ultimate decision-maker.”
