Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Steve Whitcoff, the special envoy of Donald Trump, late on Thursday night at the Kremlin, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. This meeting comes as U.S.-Russia talks over a ceasefire in Ukraine have seemingly become a daily affair.
“Whitcoff was here yesterday. Late last night, he was received by President Putin,” Peskov told reporters, adding that the Russian president used this opportunity to send his messages to Trump regarding the proposed ceasefire plan for Ukraine.
On this issue—the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict—Peskov made it clear that Putin supports Trump’s stance on settling the matter but has raised some questions that need to be jointly addressed.
“You heard a very important statement from President Putin yesterday. In response to a journalist’s question, he said he supports President Trump’s position on the settlement, but he also raised certain issues that need to be addressed together. So yes, indeed, there is still a lot of work to be done, but nonetheless, the president expressed solidarity with Mr. Trump’s position,” Peskov told reporters.
He went on to state that “there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about resolving the Ukraine conflict”, while also emphasizing that the timing of the much-anticipated Trump-Putin conversation will depend on when Whitcoff delivers Putin’s message to the former U.S. president.
“The exact timing of the conversation between the two presidents has not yet been agreed upon,” Peskov clarified, adding that “once Mr. Whitcoff relays all the information he received in Moscow to his head of state, we will then decide on the timing of the discussion.”
Additionally, Peskov underscored the importance of direct communication between Trump and Putin, stating that “both sides understand that such a discussion between the leaders of Russia and the United States is necessary.”
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