Witkoff, Everything Just Witkoff: From Gaza Now Kyiv
For Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff’s role is everything for jeopardy deal. As well Gaza, now Kyiv. If ‘stubborn’ Israel even agreed with Witkoff and Witkoff successfully sealed deal of Gaza [even though daily now 20-40 Palestinian killed by Israel since ceasefire], Trump protect him again whatever controversy about Ukraine - Russia deal.
Donald Trump defended Steve Witkoff late Tuesday night after a report revealed the U.S. president’s Russia envoy had secretly advised the Kremlin on how to sell a Ukraine deal.
“That’s a standard thing. He’s gotta sell this to Ukraine, he’s gotta sell Ukraine to Russia. That’s what a dealmaker does […] I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he’s saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One.
Bloomberg’s extraordinary revelation of the call between Witkoff and Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov landed as Washington, Kyiv and Moscow discuss a potential negotiated end to the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine. According to the transcript of a second leaked call, between Ushakov and Russian official Kirill Dmitriev, the two men discussed getting the White House to back Moscow’s ideal endgame for the war.
Witkoff made his call to Russia on Oct. 14, as the White House rode a wave of foreign policy optimism after sealing a deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza, while bringing home hostages held by militant group Hamas.
“Well, listen,” Witkoff told Ushakov, according to the transcript of the first call published by Bloomberg. “I am going to tell you something. I think, I think if we can get the Russia-Ukraine thing solved, everybody’ll be jumping for joy.”
At that point in the transcript, Witkoff advises Ushakov to help arrange a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — and coaches the Russian side on how to win over the U.S. leader, by flattering him about the Gaza deal.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen,” Witkoff said. “So I would say that. I think from that it’s going to be a really good call.”
Ushakov jumped in to agree with Witkoff’s advice: “OK, OK, my friend. I think that very point our leaders could discuss. Hey Steve, I agree with you that he will congratulate, he will say that Mr. Trump is a real peace man and so and so. That he will say.”
The American envoy then added: “Because — let me tell you what I told the president. I told the president that you — that the Russian Federation has always wanted a peace deal. That’s my belief. I told the president I believe that. And I believe the question is — the issue is, is that we have two nations that are having a hard time coming to a compromise and when we do, we’re going to have a peace deal.
“I’m even thinking that maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza. We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you,” he added.
Witkoff has repeatedly infuriated Kyiv’s European allies, according to multiple diplomats and officials, by repeatedly promoting Kremlin talking points after meeting with senior Russian officials, including Putin. Trump’s primary goal is to end the war in Ukraine, and White House officials said that he doesn’t have red lines on what that looks like. Moscow has meanwhile continued its bombardment of Ukraine for almost four years now, with no sign of letting up.
The current round of peace talks involving a range of players from Ukraine to Europe to the U.S. to Russia — taking place across Switzerland, Angola and the United Arab Emirates — was kicked off by the revelation that Witkoff and Dmitriev had worked up a 28-point plan to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Many of Ukraine’s allies freaked out at the contents of the Trump-backed plan — which appeared to largely favor the Russian side in terms of territorial concessions and limiting the size of Kyiv’s army — and rushed to help draft a counterproposal for Washington to present to Moscow.
Dan Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, on Tuesday met with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi to present the revised 19-point plan, which stripped away some of the elements most heavily tilted toward Moscow.
In a second call that Bloomberg published, between Ushakov and Dmitriev on Oct. 29, the two Russian officials discussed guiding the Americans into accepting a version of the peace deal that favors their position.
“Well, we need the maximum, don’t you think?” Ushakov asked, according to the transcript. “What do you think? Otherwise, what’s the point of passing anything on?”
“No, look,” Dmitriev replied. “I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.”
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If you feel powerless to help Gaza, you still has a choice: donate. When so much of what exists is false, authenticity is a powerful weapon we can wield that the state never could. So if you feel lost, hopeless, depressed, angry and afraid, I implore you to return - again - again - and again - to the feeling of love that exists within you that brought you here in the first place. It is only through this that we can remake the world. To redress Gaza’s famine, displacement, and destruction, independent and impartial humanitarian organizations - UN agencies, international and national NGOs - must be allowed to deliver relief at scale. To salvage Gaza’s people from the devastation inflicted by Israel, it must be unified with the West Bank to form an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, not to be parceled and colonized by the former.
Meanwhile, children continue to be shredded by US bombs, and the starvation reaches new depths of hellish collective punishment. If both parties are going to continue to support an ongoing genocide, at least they can both be honest about doing so, rather than having one openly bloodthirsty party, and another—unconvincingly—playing the role of powerless, bumbling humanitarian.
Please keep donate Gaza especially if you, as reader, has [background] International Relation [whatever universities]. IR Graduate means [you must, at least] get some semester [about] studying Middle East [in macro, not specifically Gaza].
We need more people to share fundraisers instead of only talking about Gaza. Some people think that those in Gaza don’t need money but that’s wrong. Almost everyone lost their source of income while essentials, food & medicine get sold for astronomical prices. So I put my attempt in all social media as I can, in twitter / X, in substack [since October 2023 I put link donation], in bluesky or bsky, in threads, in instagram.
Link to donate World Food Programme - Palestine appeal: click here
[Daniel Brühl]
Most campaign shared or circulated in social media are for REAL people in Gaza. They’re legit. There are a lot of small campaigns for struggling families. This is their only lifeline. By donating & sharing, you are literally making history and alleviating part of their pain
Please do not rely on me alone for sharing your campaign. I’m only 1 person and sometimes I’m not online which is unreliable. I never ignore anybody on purpose but I have a very limited capacity & very little energy and time.
[Refaat Rafiq Alareer IF I MUST DIE] Refaat Rafiq Alareer was extremely hungry, November 2023, days before Refaat killed by Israel airstrike. If November 2023 already [one-by-one Gazan] extremely famine, extremely hungry, imagine November 2025 or more than 2 years Israel’s Genocide in Gaza.
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