US officials on Sunday expressed optimism that a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal could be reached in “weeks”, with US President Donald Trump expected to soon discuss the issue with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who held meetings for several hours with Putin days ago, told CNN in a televised interview: “I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week.”
“This is a highly, very complicated situation, and yet we’re bridging the gap between two sides,” he said, adding that Trump “really expects there to be some sort of deal in the coming weeks, maybe, and I believe that’s the case.”
But officials also hinted strongly that Ukraine will likely have to make some major concessions if a deal is to be reached.
The United States this week proposed a halt in fighting in the war after talks in Saudi Arabia, with Kyiv accepting the proposal.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday that his talks a day earlier with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were “promising”, adding, that “hopefully we’ll have something to announce at some point fairly soon”.
Putin, however, has given no clear answer to the US proposal, instead listing a string of conditions and raising “serious questions” over the proposition.