Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused US special envoy Steve Witkoff of “disseminating Russian narratives” after he appeared to suggest that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine hinged on the status of five Ukrainian regions.
After holding a five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Witkoff told Fox News that a deal to end the war was “about these so-called five territories”.
“I think that Mr Witkoff has taken the strategy of the Russian side,” Zelensky told a Kyiv press conference on Thursday.
“I think it’s really dangerous, because consciously or unconsciously he is disseminating Russian narratives”.
Witkoff appeared to be referring to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine, much of which are under Russian military occupation after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 with the aim of taking control of the whole country.
The fifth region is believed to be Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in a move not recognised internationally.
“The territories are ours, they belong to our people and not only us but the future Ukrainian people… So I don’t understand what he’s talking about,” said Zelensky.
