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The United States’ special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said he is in discussions with Ukraine on a framework for a peace agreement, with a view to ending hostilities with Russia.
Witkoff stated this on Thursday while speaking with reporters at the White House, adding that a meeting is planned next week with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, either in Riyadh or Jeddah.
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“We’re now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians,” Witkoff said.
The Eastern Updates recalls that US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had acrimonious talks at the White House on 28 February.
However, since then, both sides have resumed work on a revenue-sharing minerals deal.
During his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, Trump said he had received a letter from Zelenskyy in which the Ukrainian leader expressed his readiness to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
“I think the idea is to establish a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well,” Witkoff said, referring to the planned meeting in Saudi Arabia.
The Bank of England’s Governor, Andrew Bailey, has called on the United States to settle its concerns about the global economy through dialogue rather than the kind of import tariffs that US President Donald Trump imposed this week.
Bailey made the call on Wednesday while speaking to British lawmakers.
He said he had addressed the importance of open trade at a meeting of Group of 20 central bankers and finance ministers last week in South Africa that was not attended by new US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“If you think the world economy is somehow out of balance, the place to address those balances is in a multilateral forum, not by bilateral action,” Bailey said in a question-and-answer session.
It should be recalled that Trump ordered 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, which took effect on Tuesday, along with fresh duties on Chinese goods, raising fears of a hit to global economic growth as well as a rise in inflation in the United States.
While speaking to the Treasury Committee in Parliament, Bailey stated that China was running a very large current account surplus and highlighted Germany’s quite radical announcement of a 500-billion-euro ($538.6 billion) infrastructure and defense investment plan on Tuesday.
