Trump’s Foreign Envoy Steve Witkoff Praises Putin, Struggles To Name Regions Involved In Ukraine War

President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and struggled to recall the names of Ukrainian regions in a recent interview.

On Tucker Carlson‘s podcast, Witkoff said the administration was making significant progress with Russia, but four territories still need ironing out. The mainland regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were illegally annexed during Russia’s invasion.

Witkoff said that Putin had told him that he prayed for Trump last September after his assassination attempt and gifted Trump a portrait of himself.

The Kremlin has staged referendums to join Russia in those mainland regions. “They’re Russian-speaking,” Witkoff said. “There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”

International observers have said that referendums in the regions have been held at gunpoint. Witkoff appeared to be taking Russian talking points at face value.

“I think the largest issue in that conflict are these so-called four regions,” Witkoff said, struggling to recall the territories’ names.

“The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Can Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict.”

The U.S. discussed the issue with Ukrainian delegates in Saudi Arabia.

Witkoff expressed his shock at how gracious Putin has been in discussions. He dismissed concerns across Europe that Putin would invade further territory if given the opportunity. “This sort of notion of we’ve all got to be like Winston Churchill, the Russians are gonna march across Europe. I that’s preposterous. We have something called NATO that we did not have in World War II,” he said.

European leaders have stressed that Putin doesn’t intend to stop his territorial aspirations for Ukraine.