According to Donald Trump, president of the United States, Steve Witkoff, his emissary for the mediate East, went to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin. The intent of these talks is to negociate a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. According to the Axios portal, if a ceasefire is not achieved by the end of the month, president Trump may decide to introduce additional sanctions against Russia.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that Russia would take the issue of peace seriously. "We are making a fast We hope that we are comparatively close to reaching an agreement between Russia and Ukraine that will end the fights," he said during the cabinet gathering on Thursday. The United States and Russia carried out an exchange of prisoners in which Ksenia Karelina, a citizen with both American and Russian citizenship, was released. The negotiations on this agreement were the consequence of an earlier gathering between Witkoff and Putin.
In addition, American and Russian diplomats met again on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the normalization of relations between countries. According to The fresh York Times, this gathering was part of the efforts of the fresh U.S. administration to improve relations with Russia. Witkoff as an emissary for the mediate East has quite a few diplomacy experience and is considered 1 of the most effective negotiators in Washington.
According to UN data, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, over 13,000 people have already died and around 30,000 have been injured. This war besides caused massive economical losses, estimated at over $100 billion. The European Union and the United States have already imposed economical sanctions on Russia, which have caused crucial losses to the Russian economy.
Vladimir Putin inactive maintains that Russia is not a organization to the war in Ukraine, but simply “helps” pro-Russian separatists.” However, evidence collected by the global Community indicates that Russia is actively active in the war, providing weapons and military support to separatists.
In this context, talks between Witkoff and Putin are very important, as they can aid to end the war in Ukraine and improve relations between the US and Russia. However, past figures show that negotiations with Russia are always hard and unpredictable.