Trump-Putin meeting to be inconclusive due to Witkoff's misunderstanding? Here's why he's being called 'incompetent'

US President Donald Trump will meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15, to finalise a peace deal to end the ongoing Ukraine war. However, even before their meeting, Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that his country won't give up their land to 'occupiers.' This, despite the US saying that a deal between Russia and Ukraine will include 'land swapping.' Now, critics have said Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff might be the key reason for the misunderstanding between Trump and Putin regarding the deal.

Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow for three hours. Kremlin said that Putin held "constructive" talks with Witkoff, while Trump said Witkoff held a “highly productive” meeting with Putin and that “great progress was made!” Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a TV interview that the US now has a better understanding of what conditions would be required for Russia to end the war.

Despite these official statements, Michael McFaul, who served in the Barack Obama administration, including as US ambassador to the Russian Federation, slammed Witkoff for sharing conflicting narratives about Putin's intentions in several calls with European leaders last week. Witkoff reportedly told European leaders that Moscow will withdraw from the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in exchange for full control of Donetsk Oblast, reported The Wall Street Journal. However, a day later,

Witkoff said that Putin would withdraw and freeze the front line. In yet another call, Witkoff said that the Russian leader wanted Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk in exchange for a ceasefire. Garry Kasparov, Russian political activist said, "Like so most of Trump's appointees, Witkoff's only qualification is that Trump is sure he will put Trump's personal interests and desires over American national interests without a second thought. Of course, he's incompetent."

Trump-Putin meeting

It was confirmed on Friday (Aug 8) that Trump will meet with Putin on August 15 to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin confirmed the summit in an online statement. The two leaders will "focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis," Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said. Trump said that the highly anticipated meeting would take place in Alaska. He also suggested that the deal would include some exchange of land. Earlier, the US had proposed that there should be a tri-party meeting between Putin, Trump and Zelensky. Russian President Putin said he is ready to meet Trump, but expressed his reservations about meeting Zelensky at this stage. Now, critics say that if reports are true and if Witkoff did not understand Putin's stance on land-swap, then the meeting between Trump and Putin might turn out to be inconclusive despite both leaders meeting after 2018.