Russia and Ukraine “very close to an agreement,” says Donald Trump. “Most important points have been agreed”
Donald Trump. Photo: Ted Shaffrey / AP / Profimedia
The envoy of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, met in Moscow on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the US plan to put an end to the Ukraine. Trump said that the two parties are “very close to an agreement”, despite the apparent differences between their positions, writes Reuters.
Trump said in a post on social networks, after the end of Witkoff's meeting, that it was a good day of discussion and asked for a high level meeting between Kiev and Moscow to conclude an agreement.
“Most important points have been agreed,” Trump said in his post after landing in Rome for Pope Francis's funerals on Saturday. “Stop the bloodshed, now.”
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski was also expected to participate in the funeral, although on Friday he was not sure he could arrive.
Russia and Ukraine have no direct discussions since the beginning of the war, which broke out in February 2022, with the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
The Kremlin Foreign Policy counselor, Iuri Usakov, who participated in the meeting on Friday and informed reporters about detail, described it as a constructive and very useful.
“This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to bring their positions closer, not only about Ukraine, but also on a number of other international issues,” he told reporters.
“Regarding the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion was focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between the representatives of the Russian and Ukraine Federation.”
Witkoff did not comment immediately.
The billionaire has become the main interlocutor of Washington with Putin, in the context in which Trump is pressuring to conclude an agreement to put an end to the war.
His last trip follows this week's discussions, during which Ukrainian and European officials rejected some of the US proposals on conflict resolution, the bloodiest in Europe after World War II.
Witkoff's meeting took place just a few hours after a car-carriage killed a high-ranking Russian military officer near Moscow, an incident for which the Kremlin blamed Kiev.
Thursday, Trump criticized a rocket and Russian rocket attack on Kiev, who killed at least 12 people, and posted a message for Putin on the social networks in which he wrote: “Vladimir, stop!”.
Trump warned both sides that the US will abandon their efforts if no real progress will be made.
