The White House hasn’t commented on Budanov’s remarks. Bloomberg cited a U.S. official as saying a potential trip by Witkoff and Kushner to Ukraine is under discussion but has yet to be confirmed.
Trump has been pressuring Zelenskyy to agree to a deal to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, one that could include Kyiv ceding parts of its territory, the Ukrainian president told Reuters last month. Zelenskyy said in the March 25 interview that Washington had tied its offer of security guarantees for a Ukraine peace deal to Kyiv giving up its entire eastern Donbas region to Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 27 rejected Zelenskyy’s assertion, saying the U.S. has made no such stipulation in its talks with Ukraine. “That’s a lie,” Rubio said. “It’s unfortunate he would say that because he knows that’s not true and that’s not what he was told.”
Ceding the Donbas region was part of a contentious 28-point plan the U.S. presented to both Kyiv and Moscow last year. Under that plan, Ukraine would hold elections within 100 days of the end of the war.
Zelenskyy has also voiced concern that Washington’s war in Iran could divert attention from Ukraine. “We have to recognize that we are not the priority for today,” he told the Associated Press on Saturday. “That’s why I am afraid a long [Mideast] war will give us less support.”