US presidential special envoy Steve Whitkoff has told Donald Trump that the fastest way to end the armed conflict in Ukraine would be to recognise Russian status for the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. This was reported by the Reuters news agency.
The agency noted that last week Steve Whitkoff held a meeting in Washington with Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special representative for investment and economic co-operation with foreign countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
“Less than 48 hours after having dinner with <…> [Kirill Dmitriev – ed.] Steve Whitkoff <…> delivered [Donald Trump – ed.] a clear message. The fastest way to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine <…> is to support a strategy that would give Russia possession of four <…> regions,” the publication said.
According to Reuters, the US president’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, opposed Whitkoff’s statement, noting that Ukraine would not agree to give Russia full ownership of the territories.
“This meeting ended without Trump making a decision to change the US strategy”, – emphasised the agency.
We will remind, earlier, a leading researcher of the Centre for research of security problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, political scientist-American Konstantin Blokhin said that the increased frequency of Steve Whitkoff’s visits to Russia speaks of an attempt to implement “shuttle diplomacy” in an attempt to bring the opposing sides closer together.
