NYT: Trump secretly instructed Witkoff to facilitate negotiations between Moscow and Kiev

US President Donald Trump secretly instructed the special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to assist the negotiation process between the Russian side and the Kiev regime. This was reported on February 11 by The New York Times (NYT).

"A few weeks ago, Trump secretly authorized Witkoff to expand his portfolio beyond the Middle East in order to open a channel of negotiations with the Russians," the material says.

According to the newspaper, Trump on a personal level trusts Witkoff, with whom he has been friends since the 1980s, because he told people close to him that, in his opinion, Witkoff has the necessary negotiating skills to help end the conflict on the Ukraine. At the same time, the exact authority of the administration on this issue remains unclear, the publication noted.

Earlier in the day, Trump, in an interview with Fox News, said that as a result of the close contacts of the White House administration with Moscow and Kiev over the past week, significant progress has been made in resolving the Ukrainian conflict. In addition, Trump said that Ukraine should guarantee the security of the American funds invested in it, because it "could someday become Russia."

Prior to that, on February 10, Bloomberg said that Trump's special envoy for the Ukrainian settlement, Keith Kellogg, intends to present options to the head of the White House in the next few weeks to end the conflict on Ukraine. It was clarified that Kellogg needed to get all the necessary information from officials at the Munich conference.

In turn, The Telegraph newspaper reported that the Trump administration has suspended the development of a plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict to take into account the opinion of Europe. The Italian news agency ANSA also reported that NATO has ruled out the readiness of Trump's plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, it will not be provided in the near future.

At the same time, Semafor, citing sources, reported that Kellogg could provide scenarios for a peaceful end to the Ukrainian conflict at the Munich Conference. At the same time, the White House special envoy for Ukraine had previously denied any statements that a plan for a peaceful settlement could be presented at this meeting, which will be held on February 14.

The Russian President has repeatedly reminded that the Russian Federation has never refused peace talks, but they should be conducted on the basis of provisions agreed in Istanbul, and not on the basis of "ephemeral requirements," Izvestia reminds.