“We, together with Jared [Jared Kushner], hope that the proposals we have put on the table will bring the sides together within the next three weeks and may lead to a summit between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin. It could possibly be a trilateral meeting with the participation of the president [Donald Trump]. We’ll see,” Steve Witkoff said.
Witkoff also warned that Trump does not want to meet if he believes it would produce no results.
“He has a unique ability to do this. I hope you will hear good news in the coming weeks,” he said.
Witkoff added that he has faced criticism for his frequent meetings with Putin. He said that to reach an agreement he needs to clearly understand the other side’s position, which is why he met with Putin eight times.
Earlier, a number of media outlets reported that a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin could take place.
Trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia were held in Geneva on Feb. 17–18.
The delegations were expected to discuss humanitarian and security issues, including territorial differences.
According to Axios, the talks “hit a dead end” because of Russia’s position. At the same time, Witkoff said the meetings “led to significant progress.”
On Feb. 18, Zelenskyy described the talks as difficult, saying progress was made only on military issues, including agreement on monitoring a ceasefire with U.S. participation.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation in Geneva, Rustem Umerov, said after the two-day talks that the work was intensive and substantive.
He said both political and military tracks were involved within the delegations, discussing security parameters and mechanisms for implementing possible decisions. Some issues were clarified during the talks, while others require further coordination, Umerov said.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, described the discussions as “businesslike.”
On Feb. 19, Zelenskyy said he had scheduled a special meeting for Friday, Feb. 20, with the negotiating team that returned from Geneva to discuss next steps in the talks.