Steve Witkoff enters court for Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York, 29 May 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / JABIN BOTSFORD
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff left Moscow in the early hours of Friday morning after reportedly meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Thursday night, just hours after Russia’s de facto leader gave a cautious response to Washington’s proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Neither Washington nor the Kremlin has yet officially confirmed the reported meeting between Witkoff and Putin, though US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told Fox News that Witkoff was “bringing things back for us to evaluate and for President Trump to make decisions on next steps” and described the administration’s “cautious optimism” that a ceasefire could be reached.
On Thursday evening, Putin told reporters at a joint press conference held with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko that while Moscow supported a ceasefire in principle, there were still various “nuances” that needed to be ironed out before an agreement could be reached.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin’s response to the ceasefire proposal “highly predictable and manipulative” and said that his refusal to voice outright support was proof that he was “preparing to reject it”.
“Of course, Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians. That’s why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such preconditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long as possible”, Zelensky said, calling on world leaders to force it to end the war by further tightening sanctions.
On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Putin remained determined to secure Russian “domination” of Ukraine, citing US intelligence officials who warned that, even if a 30-day ceasefire were agreed, Putin would simply use it as an opportunity to “rest and refit his troops” before “creating a provocation that he would blame on Ukraine” as a pretext for resuming hostilities.
Ukrainian news outlet European Pravda reported on Thursday that during the talks between Ukraine and the US in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the Ukrainian delegation had made its red lines for a negotiated settlement to end the war clear. According to a source with knowledge of the discussion, Kyiv said that it would not abandon its pursuit of NATO membership or accept limitations on the size of its armed forces — both prerequisites Putin has outlined for Moscow agreeing to end the war.
