NEW YORK, March 22. /TASS/. US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff stated that the status of Crimea, the Donetsk People's Republic, the Lugansk People's Republic, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, remains the key issue in the Ukrainian conflict.
"I think the largest issue in that conflict are these so-called four regions - Donbass, Crimea, you know the name Lugansk, and there are two others. They're Russian-speaking. Yep, there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule. Yes, I think that's the key issue in the conflict. So, that's the first thing, that when that gets settled, and we're having very, very positive conversation," Witkoff told US reporter Tucker Carlson in an interview.
According to Witkoff, "no one wants to talk about it."
"That's the elephant in the room. There are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory. The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Will it end up? Can [Vladimir] Zelensky survive politically, if he acknowledges this, this is the central issue in the conflict," the special envoy added.
The Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions became part of Russia following referendums held there on September 23-27, 2022. Crimea and Sevastopol became part of the country after a referendum held in March 2014.