Kateryna Chernoval01:13, 29.08.25

As a result, confusion has arisen around the conditions that Russia is putting forward to end the war against Ukraine.

After United States special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Moscow on August 6, he reported to Donald Trump that the Kremlin was ready to make significant territorial concessions to end the war in Ukraine. 

According to  Reuters , citing sources, Trump welcomed Witkoff’s “great progress” and agreed to meet with Putin in Alaska, noting that the issue of exchanging territories was on the table. However, all diplomatic efforts later turned into chaos. All because of one mistake by Witkoff.

The publication recalled that in a telephone conversation with European leaders on August 7, Witkoff reported that Putin was allegedly ready to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk. This surprised many participants in the conversation, as the position contrasted sharply with how they assessed Putin’s position. 

The very next day, Witkoff made another statement. One of the journalists’ sources said that during a telephone conversation organized by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with European national security advisers, the special envoy said that Putin did not actually propose withdrawing troops from the two regions mentioned, but hinted at smaller concessions. In particular, Moscow will not demand official recognition by the West of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions as “part” of Russia. 

“Witkoff, a real estate magnate with no diplomatic experience, broke standard protocol by coming to the meeting without a State Department secretary, and thus left no record of Putin’s precise proposals,” the agency wrote, citing a source.

Despite the summit in Alaska, Russia’s war against Ukraine is not close to ending, stressed former US special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who held this position during Trump’s first term. 

“We are exactly where we were before Trump came to power. Russia has not changed its position one iota. The war continues… We have no clear strategy on how to force Putin to stop the war,” he said. 

Trump’s summit with Putin on August 15 in Anchorage produced no tangible results. The most significant agreement is that U.S. and European leaders have agreed to work on the contours of future security guarantees for Ukraine. In recent days, foreign ministers and military officials have held talks to determine each country’s role in this effort.

But the end of the war seems distant, the authors of the article argue. Russian officials say they will not accept any security guarantees for Ukraine that involve the presence of foreign troops on the country’s territory. In addition, while Trump has called for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, Moscow emphasizes that this is unlikely in the short term.  

Kurt Volker believes that with the rest, Trump can put strong pressure on Putin to change his position by applying tougher economic sanctions and providing military support to Ukraine.

“I think Trump is the embodiment of Churchill’s quote: ‘You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, having exhausted all other possible alternatives.’ Trump will really have no other choice,” he stated. 

(C)UNIAN 2025