The U.S. has “some cautious optimism” that a ceasefire deal in the Ukraine war is coming soon, Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said late Thursday.
His comments came after the American president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Moscow to negotiate directly with Vladimir Putin.
After hours of speculation, the Kremlin confirmed that the Russian president received Witkoff for a meeting late Thursday night to discuss the American proposal to end the full-scale invasion that Russia launched in February 2022.
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, “additional information was provided to the Russian side” and “Putin passed on information and additional signals to President Trump” through Witkoff.
Peskov added that “there is an understanding” that a discussion between Trump and Putin is “necessary,” but the timing “has not been agreed,” as it will be determined “after Witkoff’s report to the U.S. president.”
Ukraine agreed to the Trump administration’s plan for a 30-day pause in fighting earlier this week during talks in Saudi Arabia, on the condition Moscow did so too. Putin on Thursday claimed he backed a ceasefire — before setting out delaying questions and onerous conditions that made it clear he planned to drag his feet.
On Thursday night — after Putin made his intentions obvious — Trump’s national security adviser Waltz appeared on Fox News, claiming “we do have some cautious optimism” that a ceasefire was imminent. “Of course both sides are going to have their demands, and of course both sides are going to have to make some compromises,” Waltz said.
He added: “The shuttle diplomacy is happening … special envoy Witkoff is out there and bringing things back for us to evaluate.”
Speaking to Fox’s Sean Hannity on Thursday night U.S. time, Waltz talked up the U.S.-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia, calling Kyiv’s delegation “very forthcoming” and saying “we had very good conversations. At one point we even broke out a map and started drawing on it on how we’re going to end this war.”
Hannity probed Waltz for details of what a “negotiated settlement” could entail, listing a range of potential terms: a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, the potential for European troops on the ground to secure peace, Kyiv giving up its ambition to join NATO and Ukraine ceding parts of the Donbas region as well as “areas that are heavily populated by people from Russia.”
Asked whether that was close to what was being discussed, Waltz said: “You’re not wrong in any of that … we’re discussing all of those things with both sides. We are having those discussions with our counterparts with the Russians, we are having those discussions with our counterparts with the Ukrainians, and we are pushing both sides together.”
Waltz said the Trump administration was seeking “a permanent peace” with “European-led security” for Ukraine.
This story has been updated.
