British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as "a stand-off and a pose" by Donald Trump's special envoy.
Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a "simplified" notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking that "we should all be like Winston Churchill".
In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he liked the Russian president.
"I don't consider Putin a bad guy," he said. "He's super smart."
Witkoff, who met with Putin ten days ago, said the Russian president had been "compassionate" and "direct" with him.
"Putin had prayed for Trump after the assassination attempt against him last year during the election campaign. He had ordered a portrait of the American president as a gift and Trump was clearly touched by it," the American official said.
During the interview, Witkoff repeated various Russian arguments, including that Ukraine was "a fake country" and asked when the world would recognize occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian.
Witkoff is leading U.S. ceasefire negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, but he was unable to name the five regions of Ukraine either annexed or partially occupied by Russian forces.
"The biggest issue in that conflict is these so-called four regions, Donbas, Crimea, you know the names, and there are two others," Witkoff said. (A2 Televizion)
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