The result of the current stage of Ukraine's negotiations with the United States is the establishment of a temporary ceasefire for 30 days, during which the parties will discuss a permanent ceasefire.
US Special Envoy for the Middle East Stephen Witkoff stated this during an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson.
"The ultimate goal is a 30-day ceasefire, during which we will discuss a permanent ceasefire. We are not far from that, but a 30-day ceasefire is where we have to find out what all the conditions are on the battlefield, which is why I started with Kursk," he said.
The Special Envoy denied information about an unsuccessful conversation between Trump and putin. He called the agreement between Ukraine and russia to stop strikes on energy infrastructure a "big step forward."
"They (Trump and putin – ed.) never talked about this before. Now we are talking about this. They never talked about restoring the moratorium on mutual strikes in the Black Sea. This will be implemented within the next week. There are some details that need to be discussed, but this has become part of this conversation. These are very important things," said Witkoff.
He also repeated the message of US President Donald Trump about the alleged encirclement of part of the Ukrainian military in the Kursk Oblast, which was denied by President Zelenskyy, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense.
The Special Envoy also added that in addition to the situation in the Kursk Oblast, there is a border between Ukraine and the russian federation two thousand kilometers long. According to him, there are 50-80 clashes on it one way or another, and it is necessary to discuss the conditions for their cessation.
"Our technical teams are meeting in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) starting Monday. This is very important. There's been a lot of good, positive talk coming from Russia about their willingness to look at all these different issues. And Zelenskyy had a great conversation with the US President the day after Trump spoke with Putin. And that shows that they have some flexibility in how they think about how to end this conflict," Witkoff said.
The Special Envoy noted that he doesn't want to sound like an eternal optimist, but he is very optimistic that the US will be able to reconcile the two sides.
"We have narrowed the scope of issues significantly. Yes, I am optimistic," he concluded.
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