US envoy Witkoff optimistic about Ukraine talks, says Putin wants peace

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism on Sunday ahead of high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia over the war in Ukraine and said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to end the three-year-old conflict.

"I feel that he wants peace," Witkoff told Fox News Sunday.

A U.S. delegation is due to hold talks later on Sunday in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian officials on a possible partial ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. U.S. and Russian officials will then hold talks on Monday, also in Saudi Arabia.

"I think that you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that, you'll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire," Witkoff said.

Putin agreed last week to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily, but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire that President Donald Trump hoped would be the first step toward a permanent peace deal. Ukraine accepted Trump's 30-day proposal.

Asked about Western criticism of Putin, Witkoff said he believed there were two sides to every story and played down concerns among Washington's NATO allies that Moscow could be emboldened by a deal and invade other neighbors.

"I just don't see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in World War Two," Witkoff said.

UKRAINIAN CHILDREN

As it slashes a wide range of U.S. government programs and most foreign aid, the Trump administration has ended a government-funded initiative led by Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab that tracked the mass deportation of children from Ukraine, lawmakers say.

The White House's national security advisor, Mike Waltz, said the U.S. was in discussions during the Russia-Ukraine talks about confidence-building measures, including the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia during the conflict.

"We're talking through a number of confidence-building measures. That's one of them," Waltz told CBS News.

Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children who were taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the U.N. treaty definition of genocide.

Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and protecting vulnerable children from the war zone.

Asked about the goals for the broader negotiations, Waltz said after a Black Sea ceasefire is agreed, "we'll talk the line of control, which is the actual front lines."

"And that gets into the details of verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are," Waltz said. "And then of course, the broader and permanent peace."