As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine arrives in Washington on Monday for talks at the White House, a senior American envoy reportedly signaled that the core of the discussions would be a subject often avoided in public: the possibility of land swaps between Russia and Ukraine as part of a broader peace settlement.
Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy who accompanied President Donald J. Trump to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Alaska last week, described the issue in strikingly direct terms. “The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians, that could not have been discussed at this meeting,” Witkoff said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “We intend to discuss it on Monday.”
The acknowledgment that territorial negotiations lie at the heart of the conflict marks a notable shift from years of Washington rhetoric that framed Ukraine’s borders as non-negotiable.
Witkoff emphasized, however, that the United States is acting as a mediator, not as a party imposing conditions. “Hopefully we have some clarity on it, and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon,” he added.
During his interview, Witkoff said Trump and Putin had reached “robust security guarantees” in their meeting, which he described as historic. But he was careful to note that progress on land questions required direct engagement with the Ukrainian side.
His comments highlighted Trump’s willingness to press for tangible outcomes — and to convene world leaders in pursuit of what the White House believes could be the first serious steps toward ending the war.
When asked about reports that Putin had offered to end hostilities if Ukraine surrendered the entire Donbas region, including areas not currently under Russian control, Witkoff declined to confirm specifics.
Instead, he pointed to the complexity of the negotiations, suggesting that both sides had offered concessions. “The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions,” he said.
The envoy described those five regions as “the crux of the deal,” while singling out Donetsk as an area requiring especially detailed negotiations. “There is an important discussion to be had with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there,” Witkoff said. “And that discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday, when President Zelensky arrives with his delegation and some of the other European leaders. And hopefully we can cut through and make some decisions right then and there on that.”
For Trump, who campaigned on the promise of bringing wars to an end and putting “America First” in foreign policy, the Alaska summit with Putin and the follow-up meeting with Zelensky appear to be a test of whether his unconventional approach can yield results.
Witkoff’s remarks suggest that the administration sees momentum — and that Trump is determined to broker agreements where past presidents hesitated.
Whether Zelensky and European leaders embrace that vision remains to be seen. But for now, the Trump White House has placed negotiations over territory, long treated as a taboo subject in Western capitals, squarely on the table.
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