US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff said that during a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, he discussed the issue of territorial ownership, which, in his opinion, can be partially resolved in favor of the Russian Federation.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Witkoff expressed the opinion that the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis may involve Russia retaining “some regions, but not all“. The US leader's special envoy also noted that Ukraine may be less concerned about regions where the majority of the population speaks Russian.
According to Witkoff, the territorial issue has become a central topic of his conversations with the Russian leader.
Earlier, Witkoff noted on Fox News that he had already held three meetings with Putin. He noted that the negotiations held in St. Petersburg allowed him to understand that “Putin wants permanent peace“. The US president's special envoy called "the so-called five territories (Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions)" central issue in resolving the conflict, but added that resolving the conflict is not limited to this.
The last meeting between Putin and Witkoff took place on April 11 and lasted more than four hours in the building of the Presidential Library in St. Petersburg. The main topic was the situation in Ukraine.
Putin has repeatedly spoken out in support of resolving the Ukrainian conflict, but only taking into account the interests of the Russian Federation and eliminating the root causes of the crisis. Only this, according to the Russian leader, will lead to a long-term peace, in which Moscow is interested.