Witkoff misled Trump on Russia’s demands after meeting without U.S. notetaker

Reuters reported this, citing sources.

After his meeting with Putin in Moscow, on August 7 Witkoff told Trump and European leaders that Russia was allegedly ready to withdraw troops from the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in exchange for Ukraine’s exit from Donetsk and Luhansk.

According to four of the agency’s sources, this information shocked many allies, as it differed greatly from Putin’s public statements.

It is claimed that after this, Trump congratulated his envoy on “great progress” and agreed to a summit with the Kremlin leader in Alaska.

However, the next day, on August 8, Witkoff changed his account during a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European national security advisers. A source told the outlet that the envoy then explained that Putin had not actually offered to withdraw troops from the two regions. Instead, Putin said he would not demand formal legal recognition of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as Russian.

“Witkoff, a real estate magnate with no background in diplomacy, broke with standard protocol by going to the meeting without a State Department notetaker and thus left without a record of Putin's precise proposals,” Reuters explained, citing a diplomat.

• On August 6, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow and met Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Their dialogue lasted about three hours. According to the U.S. president, the meeting was productive.