US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in an interview with Fox News today that he expects to see "real progress" at talks in Saudi Arabia tomorrow to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“I think you're going to see real progress in Saudi Arabia on Monday, particularly in the Black Sea - a ceasefire against ships from both sides. And from that, naturally, we'll move to a full ceasefire,” Witkoff said.
“I think he wants peace” the US president's envoy also said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In response to a question about how he knew that the Russian president would limit himself to Ukraine if concessions were made, Witkoff said: “I just don't think he wants to take over all of Europe. This is a very different situation compared to World War II“.
Putin has been “fighting a war for several years now, mainly over these five regions“ of Ukraine that Russia annexed, said Trump's envoy, and stated that “the opinion in Russia is that these are Russian territories, that referendums were produced in these territories, which justifies these actions“.
“I'm not taking sides in saying this“, insisted Witkoff. "I'm just pointing out the problems," he added.
Witkoff did not directly answer the Fox reporter's question about whether he thought it was wrong to describe Putin as a "tyrant" whose "political opponents often disappear or die."
"In my 68 years on this Earth, I have never, ever seen a situation where there weren't two sides to the same story. "The situation is never as black and white as people want to make it," he said.
"There are governments on both sides, but our job, under the leadership, I emphasize, of the president (Trump), is to limit the problems, bring the countries closer together and end the slaughter," he added.
Meanwhile, a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Agence France-Presse that talks between Ukrainian and American representatives will take place in Riyadh tonight on a possible ceasefire in the war with Russia.