Fact-Check: Here’s What Witkoff Gets Wrong About Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Steve Witkoff, the US President’s special envoy to the Middle East, was recently interviewed by Tucker Carlson in a video published on March 22. However, a number of statements made by Witkoff about Russia’s war against Ukraine raise concerns over their accuracy.

Witkoff alleges that the key issue in Russia’s war is the recognition of temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories as part of Russia, particularly “the so-called four regions: Donbas, Crimea, you know the names, Luhansk and there are two others [editor’s note: Witkoff is referring to Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson regions where Russia held sham so-called referendums].”

Fact-check: These territories, illegally occupied by Russia, are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, with no legitimacy granted to the Russian sham referendums that were conducted under occupation.

“They [the occupied regions] are Russian-speaking, there were referendums where the vast majority of people showed that they want to be under Russian rule. I believe this is the key issue of the conflict,” Witkoff stated.

Witkoff described the issue as a longstanding one, one that has often been ignored by those engaged in peace talks. “This is the elephant in the room,” he said.

Fact-check: Neither the US nor Western countries recognize these sham referendums as legitimate. According to a UN resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly the illegal so-called referendums “have no validity under international law and do not form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine.”

He also mentioned the situation in Kursk, where he alleged Ukrainian forces were surrounded. “The Russians have regained control there, and people are trapped. Trump doesn’t want to see them all killed,” Witkoff remarked.

Fact-check: Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region have recently lost ground but are not surrounded by Russian troops, despite recent media reports suggesting otherwise.

Additionally, Witkoff dismissed any notion of Russia attempting to take over Europe, calling such claims “absurd.”

Fact-check: Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, countered this by stating that Russia sees itself as an empire rather than a federation, with ambitions that could extend beyond Ukraine.

Earlier, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated that the United States could take control of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine “with very little problem,” should the appropriate political decision be made.