US President Donald Trump's envoy for Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, has rejected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's proposal to form an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine, calling it "posturing and forced posturing."
Witkoff described the idea as simplistic and the result of thinking that "we all have to be like Winston Churchill," referring to Starmer and European leaders.
In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Vitkoff praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he "likes" him, reports Index.hr.
"I don't think Putin is a bad guy," Vitkoff said. "He's extremely smart."
He recently met with Putin.
Vitkoff, who met with Putin about ten days ago, said the Russian president was "warm" and "sincere" with him. He added that Putin told him he had prayed for Trump after his assassination last year and gave him a portrait of him, which, according to Vitkoff, Trump was "visibly moved."
Although he is leading US ceasefire negotiations with Moscow and Kiev, Vitkoff was unable to name all five Ukrainian regions that Russian forces have occupied or annexed.
"The biggest problem in this conflict is these so-called four regions – Donbas, Crimea, you know... there are two more," he said.
The five occupied regions are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Crimea. Donbas refers to the industrial region in the east, which includes most of Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts.
Made false claims
The BBC reports that Witkoff made a number of claims that are incorrect or disputed:
He claimed that Ukrainian forces in Kursk were surrounded, which the Ukrainian government denied and is not confirmed by open sources.
He said that four partially occupied regions held "referendums in which an overwhelming majority voted in favor of joining Russia." The referendums were held only in parts of the regions and were generally methodologically discredited.
He claimed that all four regions are Russophone, implying that they support Russia, although the Russian language is not an indicator of political loyalty.
Vitkoff also reiterated a number of Kremlin theses about the causes of the Russian invasion. He said it was "true" that the occupied territories, from the Russian perspective, were now part of Russia: "The elephant in the room is that in Ukraine there are constitutional restrictions on what they can cede. The Russians de facto control those territories. The question is whether the world will recognize them as Russian."
"There is a feeling in Russia that Ukraine is an artificial state, made up of different regions like a mosaic structure, and that is precisely the root of the conflict. The Russians believe that these five regions have belonged to them since World War II, but no one wants to talk about it," he added.
"Why would Russia want all of Ukraine?"
Putin had previously cited NATO expansion and Ukraine's very existence as an independent state as the "root causes" of the invasion.
In an interview on Carlson's podcast, Vitkoff said: "Why would they want to annex all of Ukraine? For what? They don't need all of Ukraine... They've already taken those five regions. They have Crimea, they got what they wanted. Why would they go any further?"
Asked about Keir Starmer's plan to bring together a "coalition of the willing" to provide Ukraine with security guarantees after the war, Witkoff replied: "I think it's a combination of posturing and simplistic thinking. There's this idea that we all have to be like Churchill. Like the Russians are going to march across Europe. It's absurd. We have NATO today, which wasn't there in World War II."
He claims that "there will be elections in Ukraine"
Vitkoff stated that Kiev had agreed to organize presidential elections in Ukraine, but did not offer any details or evidence to support that claim, reports Index.hr.
He said that "there will be elections in Ukraine," adding that the leadership of the war-torn country "has agreed to it."
The Trump administration is increasing pressure on Ukraine to force it to hold elections in the midst of the war – which is currently prohibited under the Ukrainian constitution.
The US president has repeatedly described Volodymyr Zelensky as an "unelected dictator", a claim that aligns with narratives promoted by Russia that seek to undermine the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leadership.
Critics warn that elections under wartime conditions would expose Ukraine to Russian attempts at destabilization and pose a major logistical challenge in a country defending itself against a full-scale invasion.
"If there is to be a peace agreement, Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO"
In the interview, Vitkoff also commented on Ukraine's possible membership in NATO, which Russia strongly opposes.
"If there is going to be a peace agreement, Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO. I think that is largely accepted," he said.
But the US envoy suggested that Ukraine could still benefit from security guarantees similar to those enjoyed by NATO members under Article 5, which provides for collective defence in the event of an attack on one of the members.
"I think that's open to discussion," Vitkoff said, without providing further details on the matter.
"Who wouldn't want a world where the US and Russia do good things together?"
He also said that a ceasefire in the Black Sea could be "implemented within a week" and that "we are not far" from a complete 30-day ceasefire.
He also spoke about Trump's plans for future cooperation with Russia after relations normalize: "Who wouldn't want a world in which the US and Russia do good things together? Energy cooperation in the Arctic, joint use of sea routes, sending LNG to Europe, maybe cooperation in the development of artificial intelligence?" said Vitkoff.
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