US envoy reveals secret talks with Putin about Ukraine

(Dan Tri) - US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin raised concerns that the Ukrainian army might not respect a potential ceasefire.

Special envoy of US President Donald Trump, Mr. Steve Witkoff (Photo: Reuters).

In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson published on the evening of March 21, US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, shared some details from his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on March 13 about the idea of ​​a ceasefire with Ukraine.

“Russia needs the conditions for a complete ceasefire because a complete ceasefire is very complicated,” said Mr. Witkoff.

According to the US diplomat, one of the pressing issues is that the Ukrainian army still controls a small part of the territory in Russia's Kursk province.

"Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian forces there, President Trump doesn't want to see those people lose their lives. It's an important battlefield situation that needs to be resolved," Mr. Witkoff added.

Special envoy Witkoff shared that Moscow also has questions about implementing a potential ceasefire along the national border and the front line that stretches over 2,000km.

"Putin asked me in the meeting: 'What should I do when in a particular area, the Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded and they don't want to surrender? Should we remove them? How do we get them to surrender? This is just one of 70, 80, 90 different situations out there along the border, each with different battlefield conditions, each situation requiring a separate conversation. That's what has to happen to get a ceasefire,'" Trump's envoy recounted.

The ultimate goal of the current phase of negotiations between the United States, Ukraine and Russia is to reach a 30-day ceasefire, during which the parties will discuss the possibility of a complete cessation of hostilities, Mr. Steve said.

Mr. Witkoff arrived in Moscow on March 13, part of the Trump administration's shuttle diplomacy effort to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict.

The visit comes shortly after the US secured Ukraine's agreement on a 30-day ceasefire plan with Russia.

After a closed-door meeting with the US special envoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow supports Washington's ceasefire idea, but for a real agreement, a number of issues need to be resolved first.

"If we stop military operations for 30 days, what does that mean? All the Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk will leave without a fight, should we let them leave after committing so many crimes against civilians? Or will the Ukrainian leadership order them to lay down their arms?", Mr. Putin asked.

Mr Putin also questioned who would order the cessation of hostilities and considered the possibility of controlling the ceasefire in Ukraine very complicated, such as how the parties would monitor the ceasefire on a frontline of about 2,000km? Who would verify when there were violations and who would be responsible?

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/dac-phai-vien-my-he-lo-cuoc-hoi-dam-kin-voi-ong-putin-ve-ukraine-20250322135018452.htm