Moscow sends message to Trump that Russian control over 4 Ukrainian regions is way to a ceasefire

This was reported by Reuters, citing two American officials and five sources familiar with the situation.

The article states that after meeting with Russian representative Kirill Dmitriev on April 3, Witkoff spoke with Trump at the White House. 

According to the agency's sources, the special envoy told the American president that the quickest path to a ceasefire agreement would be accepting Russia’s control over the four Ukrainian regions Moscow has attempted to illegally annex: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

However, Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, who was present at the meeting, opposed the idea. He stated that while Kyiv is open to negotiations, it will never unilaterally agree to cede full ownership of its territories to the Russians.

The meeting ended without Trump making a decision to change the U.S. strategy. Witkoff traveled to Russia on April 11 to meet Putin.