NEW YORK, March 17. /TASS/. The United States maintains permanent contact with the Great Britain, Norway, France, Finland and other European states regarding the Ukrainian conflict resolution, US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN.
"We are in discussions with European countries and that includes France, Britain, Norway, Finland and all the others," he said.
Late last week, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced to press that Russian President Vladimir Putin received Witkoff on March 13 and provided him with information for US President Donald Trump.
The Kremlin spokesman did not disclose the specific topics of the conversation between Putin and Witkoff. As White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned on March 12, the American leader's special envoy was in Moscow to discuss the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on Friday that shortly after Witkoff returned to the United States, officials in Washington would "more thoroughly assess Russia's position." Rubio noted that Trump would then determine the next steps the US would take regarding the settlement.
Ceasefire discussions
On March 11, negotiations took place in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah between delegations from the United States and Ukraine. Following these discussions, Ukraine decided to accept the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire. In turn, Washington agreed to immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume military assistance to Kiev. The parties also agreed to sign the agreement on Ukrainian minerals as soon as possible.
On March 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to Trump for his involvement in the peace negotiations and endorsed the idea of a ceasefire. However, the Russian president mentioned several critical issues regarding the status of Ukrainian military personnel who had invaded the Kursk Region, the mechanisms for monitoring the ceasefire, and Ukraine’s potential actions during this period.
He stated that Moscow was open to proposals for ending hostilities in Ukraine, provided they paved the way for long-term peace and addressed the root causes of the crisis.