Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark told Newsmax on Wednesday that reports of a leaked conversation between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian adviser Yuri Ushakov should have no bearing on whether negotiators can finalize a deal to end the war in Ukraine, despite the political noise it generated.
The former NATO commander told “American Agenda” that the incident — a purported recording in which Witkoff allegedly coached Ushakov on how to frame a potential leaders’ call, including by praising President Donald Trump as “a man of peace” — primarily reinforces suspicions long held in Kyiv, not any new strategic shift.
“I don’t know that the leak is particularly damaging, except that it makes it look like there’s some secret agreement between the United States and Russia and that it’s Ukraine on the outs,” Clark said. “But if you went to the Ukrainians, they felt that way from the beginning. From the beginning, they felt that President Trump was trying to help Russia rather than help Ukraine.”
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