Witkoff calls Budanov "vice president" - media

The Special Envoy of the President of the United States Steve Witkoff has called the newly appointed head of the Presidenti's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, "vice president of Ukraine". He said this during a interview with Bloomberg reporter Annmarie Hordern, commenting on the progress of the peace talks.

"Ukrainians say that we have fulfilled 90%, and I agree with them. I believe we have made even more progress. Last weekend, we met with Budanov, their new vice president in charge of intelligence, David Arakhamia and Rustem Umerov, and we made even more progress," Witkoff said.

He also noted that in the last six to seven weeks since the meeting in Geneva, the parties have made more progress than in the previous three to four years.