US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine have made significant progress and are expected to continue next week.
"We think we made a lot of progress," Witkoff said at a Cabinet meeting.
His remarks came after Russia and Ukraine held US-mediated consultations in the United Arab Emirates. A new round is due on Sunday, again in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
The talks will continue in about a week, but lots of good things are happening between the counterparties discussing the land deal, Witkoff said.
He said negotiators have largely completed two key components of a broader agreement: a security protocol and a prosperity framework intended to support Ukraine's postwar stability and reconstruction.
"We have a security protocol agreement that's largely finished, a prosperity agreement that's largely, largely finished. And I think the people of Ukraine are now hopeful and expecting that we're going to deliver a peace deal sometime soon," he added.
Separately, addressing the Cabinet officials, Trump said he told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to fire into Ukraine's capital Kyiv for a week.
"I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that," Trump said, citing "extraordinary cold."
"It was very nice. A lot of people said, 'Don't waste the call, you're not going to get that.' And he did it," Trump added.
