US special envoy Steve Witkoff says war in Ukraine not necessarily provoked by Russia
US special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested Sunday that the war in Ukraine wasn’t “necessarily” provoked by the Kremlin, while predicting that a mineral deal with Kyiv would get “signed this week.”“The war didn’t need to happen.It was provoked.
It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians,” Witkoff, 67, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”“There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO.That didn’t need to happen.
It basically became a threat to the Russians,” said Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy to the Mideast whose duties have now expanded to Ukraine.Witkoff’s comments picked up where President Trump left off on Truth Social last week when he blamed Ukraine for starting the war.“You should have never started it.You could have made a deal,” Trump wrote.Meanwhile, Witkoff said Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky is “not wavering anymore” on a deal pushed by Trump to pay back the US for its military aid to its war-torn ally with lucrative minerals.“I expect to see a deal signed this week,” Witkoff said of the demanded compensation.
“[Zelensky] realizes that we have done so much and that that agreement belongs being signed.And I think you will see it signed this week.”Russia launched its brutal war against neighboring Ukraine three years ago Monday and has been widely blamed by Republicans and Democrats alike for instigating the conflict.Last year, during an interview with Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin, conservative pundit Tucker Carlson seemingly egged on the Russian dictator to blame Russia’s bloody aggression on its concerns about Ukraine joining NATO.Putin instead went on a lengthy tirade about Russian history and openly questioned why Ukraine even existed as an independent country.During the run-up to the war, Russia had demanded NATO peel back from Eastern Europe and stay out of Ukraine, which has repeatedly attempted to join the alliance.
NATO leadership has re...