Steve Witkoff says first direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in three years were an important step to peace
US President Donald Trump’s upcoming phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be “very successful” and could help clear “some of the logjam” in peace negotiations over Ukraine, American special envoy Steve Witkoff has said.
Trump announced he will speak with Putin on Monday, several days after Russia and Ukraine held their first direct negotiations in three years. During the talks in Istanbul on Friday, the sides agreed on a major prisoner exchange and to continue dialogue after each submits a detailed ceasefire proposal.
Witkoff hailed the talks in Türkiye as “good achievements,” and reaffirmed that Trump would like to broker a stable ceasefire followed by a “final peace deal.”
“I believe that the president is going to have a very successful call with Vladimir Putin,” Witkoff told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here… If he can’t do it, then nobody can.”
Asked whether Moscow’s terms were too harsh, Witkoff said the conflict was “very complicated” and that the sides must find compromises.
“I think in a negotiation like this, people take positions,” he said. “The art here is to narrow that wide berth. And I think to some extent we’ve done that. Monday will go a long way towards identifying where we are and how we complete this negotiation.”
Trump also expressed hope that Monday will be a “productive day.” He added that he plans to speak with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and “various members of NATO” after his call with Putin. At the same time, he warned that Moscow could face “crushing sanctions” if no progress is made, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized that Washington is determined to avoid “endless talks” without results.
Moscow has rejected demands for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, insisting that talks must address the “root causes” of the conflict, including Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO – which Russia considers a threat to its national security.
Putin has maintained that a lasting truce would require Ukraine to halt its mobilization drive, stop receiving weapons from abroad, and withdraw troops from Russian territory. He warned that Kiev would likely use a temporary ceasefire to rearm and regroup.
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