Steve Witkoff has also said sanctions on Russia will likely be eased once a ceasefire agreement is secured
A complete ceasefire to the Ukraine conflict could be implemented within “a couple of weeks,” US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has told Bloomberg TV. Sanctions imposed by Washington on Moscow could be relaxed once such an agreement is reached, he added.
Witkoff hailed Tuesday’s phone call between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as “epic” and “transformational.”
“President Trump and President Putin were in sync with one another, the call was outcome-oriented,” the official said. “I actually think in a couple of weeks, we’re gonna get to [a ceasefire],” he told the outlet.
Witkoff confirmed that the two leaders had agreed on a “cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure, from both [Russia and Ukraine], and civilian infrastructure for that matter.” Trump and Putin also undertook to work “toward a Black Sea moratorium on hits on naval vessels and freighters carrying grain and things of that sort.”
He expressed hope that these initial steps would “evolve into a full-on ceasefire, which is a bit more complicated because there is a 2,000-kilometer border, there’s [Russia’s] Kursk [Region], and there’s a lot of details that go into that.”
Commenting on the Russian Defense Ministry’s report that its air defenses had shot down their own drones headed for Ukrainian energy infrastructure after receiving an order to halt such attacks overnight, Trump’s special envoy told Bloomberg TV, “I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith.”
According to Witkoff, more progress was made on March 18 than in the “last three and a half years,” with important “trust-building” steps being taken now.
President Trump and President Putin “went into how you would put the finishing touches on a full-on ceasefire,” with technical teams expected to meet in Saudi Arabia beginning next Monday or Tuesday, the White House envoy revealed.
When asked about a possible in-person Trump-Putin meeting in Saudi Arabia, the US official said that “my best bet would be that it’s likely to happen.”
He reiterated that the two heads of state have a “great rapport,” dating back to Trump’s first term in office, which was “on display yesterday.”
While the two leaders “did not discuss specifically sanctions yesterday… everybody is open” to such a conversation down the road, Witkoff added.
Once a ceasefire in Ukraine takes hold, “everything else will be a detail: sanction relief and all the other things that go with a full-on peace treaty,” he predicted.
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