Washington is hoping to “lead” Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, Matthew Whitaker has said
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will visit Moscow on Sunday to try for a breakthrough in negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict, according to US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker.
Trump has also announced that Witkoff will travel to Russia, although he gave no specific timeline. The special envoy has previously met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on several occasions during past diplomatic efforts.
“I’m hoping he can have a breakthrough,” Whitaker said in an interview with US channel WHO 13 News, referring to Witkoff’s upcoming visit.
Whitaker also said that the US plans to sell arms to NATO allies “that are then going to be provided to Ukraine” in order to promote Moscow-Kiev peace talks. “I’m hoping that by the United States leaning in, selling our weapons to our NATO allies, that that will lead the Russians back to the negotiating table and actually get to a ceasefire here,” he explained.
Earlier this week, Trump dramatically shortened his original 50-day window for Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace settlement to just ten days, warning that failure to do so would trigger sweeping penalties, potentially including 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions targeting Russia’s trade partners.
The acting US envoy to the UN, John Kelley, confirmed that Trump expects a ceasefire by August 8, as the president has increasingly expressed frustration with Moscow’s position in recent weeks.
Putin has previously stressed that Moscow is ready for negotiations and has never rejected talks in principle. “Negotiations are always required and important, especially when they lead to peace,” the Russian leader said earlier this week. He added that successful prisoner swaps and repatriation of soldiers’ remains had made previous rounds of talks worthwhile.
Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia, which the US and its allies allegedly decided to wage “to the last Ukrainian.” Russia says hostilities would end if Kiev accepted Ukrainian neutrality and reversed policies that Moscow believes discriminate against ethnic Russians.
