{"id":1148,"date":"2026-02-26T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:47:28","slug":"steve-whitkow-threatens-to-block-kyiv-deal-until-peace-in-ukraine-is-secured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/steve-whitkow-threatens-to-block-kyiv-deal-until-peace-in-ukraine-is-secured\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Whitkow threatens to block Kyiv deal until peace in Ukraine is secured"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Trump\u2019s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, assured this week that he will not approve a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia until the Ukrainians feel confident that Moscow will not take up arms against them again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no agreement here unless Ukraine and its people can believe that they will be able to live in peace should a diplomatic solution be reached,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Witkoff said in an online speech at the Yalta European Strategy<\/strong> conference held on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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This has to be the ultimate outcome \u2014 a reality where peace exists.<\/p>\n

I believe this will require strong security protocols from the United States to support equally strong security protocols from Europe. We addressed this at the first meeting in Geneva \u2014 we worked several hours \u2014 to define it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Witkoff and Jared Kushner are back in Geneva on Thursday, where they will first meet with an Iranian delegation before holding talks with Ukrainian negotiators.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday in Geneva, we continue our work within the framework of the negotiation process,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> said National Security Advisor and head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Together with the government\u2019s economic team, we will thoroughly work on the prosperity package: mechanisms for financial support and Ukraine\u2019s recovery, tools to attract investments, and frameworks for long-term cooperation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The teams will also \u201calign their positions\u201d<\/strong><\/em> ahead of further talks with Russia, which will include \u201cthe issue of possible prisoner exchanges,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Umerov said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect tangible results regarding the return of our citizens,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> he added.<\/p>\n

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We are focusing on practical solutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The U.S.-Ukraine discussions precede a fourth trilateral meeting between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow scheduled for next week, during which the three sides will assess whether they can move forward with organizing a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

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\"Firefighters\"Firefighters
Firefighters lay hoses amid the rubble of destroyed buildings, with smoke rising in the background. | Photo: AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Witkoff stated on Tuesday that he \u201cstrongly believes\u201d such a meeting could take place \u2014 a breakthrough that would be the most important step toward resolving the conflict since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we have tried to solve the other issues first and then leave the territorial issue to the leaders,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> he said. \u201cThere is a lot of work on the territorial issue; we need to consider different concepts and many options.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Zelensky has repeatedly expressed readiness to meet Putin to discuss ending the war, but Putin has so far rejected any serious chances for such a meeting.<\/p>\n

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\"Ukrainian\"Ukrainian
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed openness to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. | Photo: Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

If the summit takes place, Witkoff said, it could be followed by another meeting including President Trump \u2014 although the envoy added that it is \u201ctoo early to talk\u201d<\/strong><\/em> about such a possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do everything we can to help you reach the right solution, the right peaceful solution, so that one day everyone in your country can live in peace,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Witkoff said.<\/p>\n

The very next day, the Kremlin appeared to pour cold water on Witkoff\u2019s optimistic tone, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov questioning \u201cwhether there is any point at all to holding a summit\u201d<\/strong><\/em> between Putin<\/strong> and Zelensky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Peskov added that a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky should only happen when all parties are ready to \u201cfinalize agreements.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Whitkoff, Trump\u2019s envoy, insists no Ukraine-Russia peace deal will proceed unless Ukraine is assured Moscow won\u2019t resume hostilities, amid ongoing talks and cautious Kremlin responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[309,1034,222,229,139],"nfg_topic":[134],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-jared-kushner","tag-steven-whitkoff","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelensky","tag-war-in-ukraine","nfg_topic-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}