08/17/2025August 17, 2025
US envoy Witkoff ‘hopeful’ of productive Trump-Zelenskyy talks
Senior US envoy Steve Witkoff said he was “hopeful” of a “productive meeting” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday, as Washington pushes for an end to the Ukraine war without first securing a ceasefire.
“I’m hopeful that we have a productive meeting on Monday, we get to real consensus, we’re able to come back to the Russians and push this peace deal forward and get it done,” Witkoff told US broadcaster CNN.
The envoy said Russia made “some concessions” during the Alaska summit over five Ukrainian regions central to Moscow’s objectives, in an apparent reference to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea regions.
Witkoff said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed that the US “could offer Article 5-like protection” to Ukraine, referring to NATO’s commitment to defend any member who comes under attack.
The envoy said it was the first time he had heard the Russian leader agree to that, describing the security guarantees agreed as “game-changing.”
He also defended US President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon his push for Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made.
“We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,” Witkoff said.
Trump, meanwhile, wrote on his Truth Social platform that there had been “big progress” on Russia, without elaborating.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS that both sides would need to make concessions if a peace deal were to be concluded.
