President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky apologized to Trump in a letter following a heated public argument during an Oval Office meeting during an interview with Fox News.
“Zelensky sent a letter to the president. He apologized for that whole incident that happened in the Oval Office,” Witkoff said Monday on Fox News. “I think that it was an important step and there’s been a lot of discussion between our teams and the Ukrainians and the Europeans who are relevant to this discussion as well.”
U.S. and Ukrainian officials are scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia this week to resume peace negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia. Witkoff remarked that he considered Zelensky’s letter to Trump, apologizing for the tense meeting, as “progress.” In his joint address to Congress, Trump shared that he had received a letter from Zelensky seeking to mend relations between the two countries. Trump expressed appreciation for the letter, which came just days after the U.S. suspended military aid to Ukraine.
Following the heated meeting between Zelensky and Trump, the Ukrainian leader described it as a “regrettable” encounter but did not offer a formal apology. Zelensky indicated that Ukraine remained prepared to negotiate after the meeting, which aimed for a U.S.-Ukraine agreement on a minerals deal. Witkoff emphasized the importance of discussing security protocols for Ukrainians, territorial issues, and a utility plan. “These are not complicated things, they just … need to be put on the table and everybody needs to be transparent about what their expectations are, then we can begin to have a discussion about how we compromise,” he said.
Last week, Zelensky offered to sign a U.S. minerals and security agreement “at any time and in any convenient format.” The shift came just hours before Trump delivered his speech Congress. In a social media statement early Tuesday, Zelenskyy adopted a noticeably different tone, signaling Ukraine’s openness to negotiations and expressing gratitude for Trump’s past support.