The US President's special envoy Steve Witkoff in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson outlined the "main issue" of the war in Ukraine — the status of the occupied territories in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as Crimea.
"These territories are Russian-speaking, and referendums were held there, where the majority of people expressed a desire to be under Russian control. In my opinion, this is the key point in the conflict. This is the first thing that needs to be resolved. And now we will regulate it," Witkoff stated. "The question is whether the world will recognize that these are Russian territories? Will Zelensky be able to survive politically if he recognizes this? This is the central question in the conflict."
In his opinion, "constitutional questions within Ukraine about what they can trade their territory for" are the "elephant in the room" that everyone prefers not to notice.
The special envoy also touched on the issue of holding elections, stating that the Ukrainian authorities agreed to this step. He, following Russia, repeated the thesis that it is unclear with whom to sign a peace agreement, ignoring Ukraine's decision regarding elections. However, Witkoff did not name the timing of these elections. Previously, Zelensky repeatedly stated that no elections would be held in Ukraine until the end of the war, as it is simply technically impossible to conduct them under combat conditions.
Furthermore, according to Witkoff, the Ukrainian side allegedly agreed that joining NATO is not a realistic scenario. However, the special envoy noted that the issue of providing Ukraine with guarantees under NATO's Article 5 without joining remains open. "But overall, it is already recognized: if there is to be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, then Ukraine should not be a NATO member. It seems to me that this is already accepted as a fact," Witkoff believes.