Special Envoy to former US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, has revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy apologised to his American counterpart.
Witkoff stated this on Monday while shedding light on a letter sent from Zelenskyy to Trump.
According to him, the letter contained an apology for the tense confrontation in the Oval Office, which derailed the planned signing of a critical mineral deal between the US and Kyiv.
Trump had previously disclosed the letter’s existence during his joint address to Congress last Tuesday.
“Zelenskyy sent a letter to the president. He apologised for that whole incident that happened in the office. I think that was an important step.
“And there’s been a lot of discussion between our teams, the Ukrainians, and the Europeans who are relevant to this discussion as well, and I would like to describe it as progress,” Witkoff said during a Fox News interview.
“I would hope that there’s a deal,” he added, speaking just minutes before departing the US for a meeting with Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.
Tensions during the 28 February meeting in the Oval Office escalated after Zelenskyy raised doubts over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted in any negotiations aimed at ending the war.
Zelenskyy cited past agreements that Putin had repeatedly broken in the years leading up to the full-scale war he launched on his eastern European neighbour.
