Witkoff, who has traveled to meet the Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow several times, there are barely days, told Fox News that the peace agreement that Russia had proposed outbuildings on “five Ukraine territories”.
The special envoy did not specify which territories he meant, but they probably refer to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally seized in 2014, as well as Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – four regions where Russia made SHAM referendums before annexed them illegally, even if Kremlin does not completely control these territories.
Kyiv will never recognize these regions as Russian, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine after Witkoff’s comments, calling on the international community to respect the country’s territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders.
Although the territorial contours of a ceasefire are only one of the many challenges that awaited us to conclude an agreement, Macron’s office said that Thursday had marked the start of a “positive process in which Europeans are involved”.
“Our objective is peace as quickly as possible, a solid peace and peace which guarantees respect for the essential rights of Ukraine,” said the head of the Elysée.
Until now, Europeans have struggled to obtain a seat in talks and have warned the US administration not to accept a truce too quickly without solid security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as a monitoring and response system to any cease-fire violation.
To this end, the French and the British stage a so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, which includes more than 30 countries which wish to support Ukraine, including the possible deployment of a comfort force on the ground in the event of a ceasefire.
The Elysée said that Macron spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Ukraine earlier in the day and after the meetings. Similar meetings involving high-level representatives of France, Germany, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States will be held in London next week.
