Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, is facing severe bipartisan backlash after a conversation he had was leaked to the press regarding a top foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin about a peace deal in the war in Ukraine.
In the October conversation obtained by Bloomberg, Witkoff told Yuri Uhsakov, Putin’s foreign policy assistant, that he knew how “to get a peace deal done” by offering land concessions, including the occupied Donetsk region. Witkoff told Ushakov to take an approach that would appease President Donald Trump.
“I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here,” Witkoff said. Ushakov said Putin would congratulate Trump and call him “a real peace man.”
The blowback from representatives in Washington has been intense. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said Witkoff “fully favors the Russians.”
“He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon wrote on X.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., also criticized Witkoff. “This is a major problem. And one of the many reasons why these ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop,” Fitzpatrick said.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called Witkoff “an actual traitor” in a statement on social media. “Steve Witkoff is supposed to work for the United States, not Russia,” Lieu wrote.
Trump defended Witkoff on Tuesday, calling the conversation “a standard thing.”
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“He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine. That’s what a dealmaker does,” Trump told reporters.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that they will not make any major concessions to Ukraine, following the leaked call. “There can be no question of any concessions, or any surrender of our approaches to those key points,” Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday.
During the call, Witkoff said he had “the deepest respect” for Putin, echoing a statement he made in March. “I liked him,” Witkoff said of Putin on The Tucker Carlson Show. “I thought he was straight up with me … I don’t regard him as a bad guy,” going on to call the Russian invasion of Ukraine “complicated.”
