U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff echoed several Russian demands, claims, and justifications regarding the war against Ukraine during an interview with American blogger Tucker Carlson.
That is according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrinform reports.
In the interview published on March 21, Witkoff stated that Russia “100 percent” does not want to invade Europe and that Russia “does not need to absorb Ukraine.” He also claimed that Russia “reclaimed” five regions in Ukraine — Crimea and Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions — and that Russia “has gotten what [it] wants” and will not want more.
ISW analysts emphasized that the Kremlin has repeatedly and falsely claimed that Crimea and these four regions are Russian territory contrary to international law, and Witkoff’s statement about Russia “reclaiming” these areas (which Russia has illegally occupied and annexed) amplifies the Kremlin’s justifications for its expansionist territorial demands and multiple invasions of Ukraine.
The report notes that Witkoff uncritically repeated several inaccurate Russian claims regarding the status of the Ukrainian territories that Russia illegally occupies. He stated during the March 21 interview that Russian-occupied Crimea, Donbas, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are “Russian-speaking” and that “there have been referendums [in these regions] where the overwhelming majority of people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”
According to ISW, Russia has long used similar claims to justify its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, having used the claim that Russia needs to “protect Russian-speakers” in eastern Ukraine to justify the launch of its full-scale invasion in 2022.
However, ISW points out that Russia has routinely undermined its own myth of “protecting Russian speakers” in Ukraine, however, destroying predominantly Russian-speaking cities in eastern Ukraine, killing Russian-speaking Ukrainians, and deporting Russian-speaking Ukrainian children to Russia in violation of international law. The Russian invasions of Ukraine have never been about protecting Russian speakers.
The ISW report also highlights that Witkoff’s statements undermine U.S. President Donald Trump’s stated desired end state for the war in Ukraine that achieves an enduring peace and is in the best interests of the United States, Ukraine, and Europe. Witkoff’s March 21 presentation of Russia’s territorial demands for the entirety of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson oblasts — including areas of these four oblasts that Russian forces do not currently occupy — undermines Trump’s efforts to achieve a resolution to the war favorable to U.S. interests. Ceding territory in these four regions to Russia — either along the current frontlines or along the regions’ administrative boundaries — would not provide Ukraine with the defensible lines required to reliably defend against renewed Russian aggression in the future.
Witkoff also claimed that Ukrainian officials have “conceded” that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO — a preemptive U.S. concession to Russia on one of the Kremlin’s main demands as Russia continues to make no concessions in return. Witkoff’s statements appear to yield to multiple Kremlin demands before the start of official negotiations for a peace settlement, ceding valuable U.S. and Ukrainian leverage over Russia in future negotiations that the United States will need in order to achieve Trump’s desired end to the war.
Photo: EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW
Source: Witkoff's statements seen as concession to Kremlin ahead of peace talks – ISW
