Wilfred Frost has halted Sky News to let viewers know the plane carrying the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has crossed into Russian airspace ahead of his visit to Moscow for peace talks. “Breaking news,” he announced. “The Russian news agency TASS has just reported that the plane carrying President Trump‘s envoy Steve Witkoff, has crossed into Russian airspace. Of course a critical meeting for the future of Ukraine coming up today between Steve whitkoff, and Russian leadership,” he explained.
In advance of the envoys’ visits experts warned Vladimir Putin could “hold hostage” the US ceasefire proposal that Ukraine has agreed to so that Russia can extract concessions before formal talks to end the war have even started. The Kremlin may also “demand a halt to weapons supplies to Ukraine to as a condition of agreeing to the temporary ceasefire”, a source close to the Kremlin has reportedly said. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note they did not specify if this would include all international weapons provisions to Ukraine, or only those from select countries.
Wilfred Frost halted Sky News to give viewers an update on the peace talks with Russia (Image: Sky News)
Suspending US or other military assistance to Volodymyr Zelensky‘s troops during a ceasefire would be “extremely advantageous” to Russia“, it added.
This is because Russia continues to receive critical supplies and assistance from Iran, North Korea, and China. “Such an enormous concession would also destroy US leverage in future negotiations, in addition to violating the conditions under which Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire in the first place,” the ISW added.
The Kremlin has reportedly presented three conditions for agreeing a peace deal which were no NATO membership for Ukraine, an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of Russia‘s claim to Crimea and four Ukrainian provinces
This list comes from two sources familiar with the matter cited by Reuters news agency.
Steve Witkoff is hoping to broker a ceasefire deal with Russia (Image: Getty)
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Sky News viewers are hopeful that the talks will be successful and took to X to share their thoughts. “I hope they all agree on a ceasefire deal. What the world needs now is peace, not World War III,” one said.
“Get this deal done! Good luck Steve,” another said. This sentiment was echoed by a third viewer who wrote: “Good luck, Steve.”
Another sarcastically posted: “I suppose that with the number of planes that fall from the sky these days, that is good news, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile a sixth wasn’t hopeful commenting: “Wasting his time, they want it all.”
