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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week as the U.S. tries to broker a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff.
It would be the second publicized call between the two leaders since Trump began his second term in January. Trump and Putin spoke in February and agreed to start high-level talks over ending the war in Ukraine.
“I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week,” Witkoff said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Witkoff this week met with Putin in Russia for talks aimed at ending the country’s invasion of Ukraine and said he expects to see a deal soon.
“The president uses the timeframe weeks and I don’t disagree with him. I am really hopeful that we are going to see some real progress here,” Witkoff said.
When Witkoff appeared later Sunday on CBS' “Face the Nation,” he again spoke about a prospective Putin-Trump call but did not offer specifics on what decisions might be made coming out of the discussion.
Witkoff said they forged a relationship in Trump’s first term and that he expects the call this week to be “very positive and constructive.”
Trump's first call to Putin came after Witkoff traveled to Russia to bring home Marc Fogel, an American history teacher the U.S. had deemed wrongfully detained.
One day after the prisoner swap, Trump announced that he spoke to Putin and said their call was “lengthy and highly productive.”
Witkoff demurred on whether Putin and Trump will decide in the call to move forward with a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire. Ukraine has agreed to the deal. Putin has said he agrees in principle with the proposal but there are details to be worked out.
“President Trump is the ultimate decision maker, our decision maker, and President Putin, for the country of Russia, is their decision maker," Witkoff said. "I think it’s a very positive sign that the two of them will be talking at some point. I think that’s showing that there’s positive momentum.”
Witkoff also brushed aside a recent assessment from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said in a statement that Russia “does not seem to be sincerely seeking peace” and that Putin was intensifying the fighting before negotiating.
Witkoff said he was not aware of Macron's comments but said, “it’s unfortunate when people make those sort of assessments” when “they don’t have necessarily firsthand knowledge.”
“I know what I heard, the body language I witnessed," Witkoff said of his meeting with Putin. "I saw a constructive effort, over a long period of time to to discuss the specifics of what’s going on in the field.”
