The Washington Post: Witkoff is pressuring the Ukrainian delegation to make concessions in Donetsk
The Washington Post reported that US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, pressured the Ukrainian delegation during US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Washington Post added, citing informed sources, that Witkoff demanded that the Ukrainian delegation cede control of the Donetsk People’s Republic to Russia, explaining that the region has a Russian-speaking majority.
The US President Donald Trump told Zelensky during a meeting at the White House on October 17 that Washington does not intend to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, at least not for the time being.
Trump made it clear that his priority is diplomacy, and that supplying Ukraine with missiles could undermine these efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump held an eighth phone call on October 16, which lasted two and a half hours.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced the start of preparations for a possible meeting between the two presidents in Budapest.
Putin had previously indicated that it was impossible to use Tomahawk missiles without direct US involvement, asserting that supplying Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv would undermine the emerging positive trends in relations between Russia and the United States.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also indicated that if Tomahawk missiles were delivered to Kyiv, this would require an appropriate response from Moscow.
