NEW YORK, January 21. /TASS/. US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff said he hopes to hold a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday, January 22.

"Well, we have go meet him on Thursday," Witkoff told CNBC in interview, referring to Putin. "But it's the Russians who are asking for that meeting. I think that's a significant statement on their part."

He was replying to a question about progress in Russia-US talks on the Ukrainian settlement.

"And I think everybody, I just sense that everybody wants a peace there. That it's time," Witkoff said.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia expects to receive American negotiators on Ukraine - Witkoff and Jared Kushner - on a new visit as soon as the dates of contacts are agreed. On January 20, Kirill Dmitriev, Special Representative of the Russian president and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, met with Witkoff and Kushner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The meeting lasted more than two hours behind closed doors.