Trump Witkoff’s envoy the protests departures after supporting Kremlin’s conversation points in Ukraine

Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy and main negotiator in charge of finishing the war in Ukraine, has attracted criticism in Europe and Ukraine after an interview in which he seemed to support several Kremlin conversation points known in the conflict.

The comments, in which Witkoff seemed to accept the results of the simulated referendics, Russia has previously been maintained in Ukraine to justify its seizure of land there, including Crimea, it will probably feed fears among the European allies that the Trump administration leans too much towards the vision of the Kremlin.

In the interview for “The Tucker Carlson Show”, Posted online On Friday, Witkoff talked about his efforts to negotiate with President Vladimir Putin, talking warmly of the Russian leader. Witkoff said he believed that the heart of the conflict was Russia’s desire to control four Ukraine regions that he partially occupied and has claimed annexes since 2022: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Speaking about Putin’s claims to the regions in the east and south of Ukraine, Witkoff suggested that Russia was entitled to them because they were mostly Russian -speaking majority and repeated a false statement of the Kremlin that the just referendums showed that the residents wanted to be absorbed by Russia.

“They are Russian speaking, and there have been referendums in which the overwhelming majority of people have indicated that they want to be under Russian domain.” Witkoff told Carlson.

However, Witkoff did not recognize that the referenial assumptions held in these territories, either in 2014 in the case of Crimea or 2022 in the other regions, were widely dismissed by Western powers, human rights organizations and international organizations such as fraudulent and illegitimate.

Russia made referendums in the areas he occupied in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson of Ukraine in the autumn of 2022, several months after taking advantage of them with their large -scale invasion launched in February of that year. Putin used the referendic to justify the subsequent annexation of the Russian regions. Russia also celebrated a similar referendum in Crimea in 2014 after its occupation of the Ukraine Peninsula.

The referendums organized after Russia’s invasion had already forced hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to flee, and while Russian security forces kidnapped and tortured anyone who expressed their opposition to their acquisition. In some areas, the Russian soldiers were filmed companions of votes of votes while they went from home to house.

No legitimate independent observer monitored the referendums and were widely dismissed as Shams, even by the United States. The United Nations General Assembly rejected the referendis as illegal and violated the UN letter.

In September 2022, the then Secretary of the State Antony Blinken said that the United States “does not recognize, and will never recognize any of the statements of Kremlin’s sovereignty about parts of Ukraine that was seized by force and now intends to incorporate Russia.”

Witkoff made the comments on Russian referendums one day before a new round of conversations between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia with the aim of trying to move towards the end of the war. His interpretation of referendis as legitimate caused some fierce criticisms in Europe.

“Kremlin’s repetition of Witkoff meets the ‘Russian speakers’ [sic] Wanting “Uniting Russia” is really chilling, “the former Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, wrote in X.” Listening to Americans to speak like this should be an electric shock for Europe, not a attention call. “

Some Ukrainian members of Parliament also condemned Witkoff’s comments.

Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the statements were “shocking.”

“I don’t understand what this is about: ignorance, naivety, no professionalism?” Merezhko said, who suggested that Witkoff should be removed from his negotiation role. “Because we are talking about a representative of the president, who should professionally understand this problem and know some basic things. And he doesn’t know this. He is transmitting Russian propaganda.”

In the interview with Carlson, Witkoff seemed to fight to remember the names of the Ukrainian regions. “Donbas, Crimea. You know the names”, He told the media conservative personality, who drove him to say “Lugansk”, Russian transliteration for Luhansk. “Lugansk, and there are two others,” Witkoff replied.

Although Putin declared that he had annexed the four regions, his troops still do not completely control most of the area. Much of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including their regional capitals, remain unemployed.

Witkoff, a rich real estate developer, has become the main negotiator of Trump’s effort to end the war, twice now traveling to Moscow, where he said he spent several hours talking to Putin.

In his interview about Carlson, Witkoff was effusive in his praise by Putin, calling him a “very intelligent type” and noting that Putin told him that he had prayed for Trump after the attempted murder against him during the presidential campaign last year. Witkoff added that Putin had given him a portrait of Trump that says the Russian leader had commissioned a famous Russian artist.

“This is the type of connection that we have been able to restore through a simple word called communication, which many people would say that it should not have had because Putin is a bad guy. I do not consider that Putin is a bad guy,” said Witkoff.

Witkoff also told Carlson that he believed that Russia “does not need to absorb Ukraine,” saying: “They have obtained what they want. So why do they need more?” He also said that “100%” believes that Russia does not want to invade Europe, saying that he took Putin “in his word” about it.

Witkoff also repeated an affirmation without support made by Putin that the Russian forces have surrounded a significant number of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region of Russia. Although Ukraine was forced to withdraw from Kursk earlier this month, there has been no evidence to suggest that many Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded, and both independent researchers and Ukrainian officials have said that it is false.

“Witkoff criticized a series of Russian demands, claims, claims and justifications,” wrote the War Study (ISW) based in Washington DC.

Witkoff’s comments could be deeply fed in Europe that the Trump administration, which is moving rapidly to restore relations with Russia, is more aligned with the Kremlin than NATO allies on war in Ukraine. European officials and observers have also warned that the administration, hurrying to reach an agreement, is vulnerable to Putin manipulation.

The White House has argued that its re -enactment with Russia brings peace, but critics point out that Kremlin, so far, has made significant concessions. Trump has affirmed that he is not “aligned” with Putin. “I am not aligned with Putin. I am not aligned with anyone. I am aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world,” Trump said last month.

Vice President JD Vance defended Witkoff on Monday, writing in X that he was doing an “incredible job.”