At a Kyiv press conference on 6 September, Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon asked US special envoy Steve Witkoff, to his face, whether he found it repugnant to sit across a table from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff did not answer directly, saying only that settling the war means keeping relations and communication open with both sides, according to Gordon.
US President Donald Trump began his peace efforts as soon as he returned to the White House in January 2025, promising to end the war in a single day. It did not happen. Instead, Russia has only stepped up its strikes on civilians and expanded the volume and types of weapons it uses for mass terror.
“And finally, aren’t you disgusted to be sitting at the same table with an international war criminal, the butcher of the Ukrainian people, who is personally responsible for the tragedy in Ukraine?” Gordon asked.
It is a reference with legal grounding, as the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 over the deportation of Ukrainian children.
The questions Witkoff would not answer
Witkoff did not provide direct answers to the questions. He only added that, in order to resolve the war, it is important to maintain relations and communication with both sides of the conflict.
According to Trump’s special envoy, he has traveled to Moscow approximately eight times, where he met with Putin and his team, and said they "have always received respect from President Putin".
In practice, however, none of these meetings resulted in anything other than an intensification of the strikes. In the winter of 2025, a specific peace plan was discussed that, at the time, consisted of 20 points.
Yet as the discussions continued, Russia intensified its terror against civilians, destroying an entire thermal power plant in Kyiv and plunging millions of Kyiv residents and people in other cities into darkness amid temperatures as low as -15°C. Now, as the US is holding its anti-ballistic missile interceptors, this scenario will likely continue this winter.
“The language of force”
“Don’t you think that Putin, the Russians, and Russia understand only one language well — the language of force?” the journalist asked.
There was no direct answer to this question either. Instead, Witkoff said that their job is to bring the two sides together and improve communication.
Earlier, there have been numerous occasions when channels of communication between Russia and Ukraine have existed. This was confirmed by Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and former intelligence chief, according to The New York Times.
Russia attempted to murder Gordon
In 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine said it had foiled an assassination attempt against journalist and media manager Gordon. According to the agency, the FSB of Russia was behind the plot to murder the prominent media figure.
According to investigators, the Russian intelligence service offered a $400,000 reward for carrying out the assassination.
As then-SBU chief Lieutenant General Vasyl Maliuk told journalists, Dmytro Gordon “triggers” Russians, while the Russian authorities regard him as Ukraine’s main “propagandist.”
Connexion
