WASHINGTON, March 16. /TASS/. Washington hopes to strike a deal with Moscow that will contribute to resolving the Ukraine conflict within weeks, US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff said.
"As the president [US President Donald Trump] said, he really expects there to be some sort of deal in the coming weeks. And I believe that is the case," Witkoff told CNN, commenting on the developments in Ukraine. "The president [of the United States Donald Trump] is using the time frame 'weeks.' I do not disagree with him. I am very hopeful that we are going to see some real progress here," Witkoff responded to a question about when a Russia-US deal aimed to resolve the Ukraine conflict could be reached.
"Everybody has to focus on the progress that has been made since the [US] president was inaugurated [on January 20, 2025]. Nobody expected the progress this fast. This is a highly, very complicated situation, and yet we are bridging the gap between the two sides," the US special presidential envoy said, adding that "lots of things remain to be discussed." "I think the two presidents [Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump] are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week," Witkoff noted.
Earlier, the US special presidential envoy said he expected that there would be a phone conversation between the US and Russian presidents next week.