President Donald Trump’s envoy made the claim in a TV interview late on Monday, following “compelling” talks with Putin in Saint Petersburg last week. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that agreeing terms on a deal is “not easy”, while Ukraine and its European allies have called on Washington not to be deceived by Moscow’s delay tactics regarding a ceasefire.

“I think we might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large,” Witkoff told Fox News in an interview following his meeting with the Russian leader on Friday, acknowledging that “it took a while for us to get to this place” but that he saw a deal “emerging” after five hours of talks.

He also noted a potential to “reshape” the Russian-United States relationship through “commercial opportunities” that would bring stability to the region.

Friday’s meeting was the third between Russia and the US since Trump returned to the White House in January, claiming he could solve the conflict within 24 hours.

Despite the flurry of diplomacy, there has been little meaningful progress on achieving a ceasefire, despite Ukraine agreeing to US proposals.

Russia, however, has offered no key concessions, while continuing to bombard its neighbour. On Sunday, it launched one of the deadliest attacks of the war on the Ukrainian city of Sumy – a move Trump called a “mistake”, without elaborating.

Both sides have accused each other of breaching a US-brokered agreement to pause attacks on each other’s energy facilities.

Despite Witkoff’s optimistic report, Lavrov said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper published on Monday that it is “not easy” to agree on “key components” of a peace deal.

He did, however, concede that the Trump administration is trying to understand the “root cause” of the conflict, which he stated was triggered by “the actions of Washington and Brussels” in having “brought the current regime to power in Ukraine”.

Trump, who has alarmed Ukraine by taking on many points of Russia’s agenda regarding the war, supported that viewpoint on Monday as he told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and former US President Joe Biden were responsible for starting the conflict, alongside Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump said there were “millions of people dead because of three people”.

“Let’s say Putin number one, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky,” he added, going on to dismiss the Ukrainian leader’s attempts to defend his country by obtaining missiles.

“When you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war,” Trump continued, stating, “You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size, and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

Relations between Trump and Zelensky have been tense since the US president stunned the world by opening talks with Russia in February – a move critics say gave the Kremlin an edge on terms.

Negotiations on a deal that would give the US priority access to lucrative minerals in Ukraine got off to a rocky start after Trump and Zelenskyy had a blazing argument in the Oval Office six weeks ago.

Ukraine has been alarmed by its omission from the talks between the US and Russia.

“Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead,” Zelensky said in an interview for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme broadcast on Sunday.

Kyiv’s European allies have urged Trump and his team not to be taken in by Russia’s delay tactics in the ceasefire talks.

Following the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, the European Union has restricted energy imports from Russia, profits from which fuelled Moscow’s ability to wage the war against Ukraine.

The U.S. increased its supplies to Europe to cover the deficit. Under the Trump administration, however, European relations with the U.S. have soured and European businesses began to be wary of dependency on Washington and began to look for other options.

Europe has few options, as negotiations with Qatar to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes have reached a deadlock. Although the deployment of renewable energy sources has accelerated, the pace is not fast enough to allow the EU to feel secure, according to Reuters.

“If there is a reasonable peace in Ukraine, we could go back to flows of 60 billion cubic meters (of Russian gas), maybe 70, annually, including LNG,” Didier Holleaux, executive vice president at France’s Engie, told Reuters in an interview.

France’s Engie is partially state-owned and was one of the largest buyers of Russian gas before the all-out war in Ukraine. Holleaux added that Russia could supply around 20-25% of EU needs, down from 40% before the war.

Patrick Pouyanne, the head of the French oil company TotalEnergies, highlighted another concern: Europe should not over-rely on U.S. gas. TotalEnergies is a large U.S. LNG exporter and sells Russian LNG from the private firm Novatek.

“We need to diversify, many routes, not over-rely on one or two,” Pouyanne told Reuters.

“Europe will never go back to importing 150 billion cubic meters from Russia like before the war … but I would bet maybe 70 bcm.”

Germany, which relied heavily on cheap Russian gas before Russia’s large-scale invasion, is now also considering at least partial resumption of supplies.

Several companies that are residents of the Leuna Chemical Park, one of Germany’s largest chemical clusters hosting plants of Dow Chemical and Shell, among others, emphasized the need to resume Russian supplies.

“We need Russian gas; we need cheap energy — no matter where it comes from,” said Klaus Paur, managing director of Leuna-Harze, a mid-sized petrochemical maker at the Leuna Park.

“We need Nord Stream 2 because we have to keep energy costs in check.”

“We are in a severe crisis and can’t wait,” stated Christof Guenther, managing director of InfraLeuna, the park operator.

He added the German chemical industry has cut jobs for five quarters in a row, something not seen for decades.

“Reopening pipelines would reduce prices more than any current subsidy programs,” Guenther continued.

Despite attempts to maintain its presence in Europe, Gazprom’s gas exports to the EU remained low.

Gazprom’s financial woes stem largely from the EU’s decision to reduce reliance on Russian energy following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Compounding its troubles, Russia’s direct pipeline gas supplies to the EU have ceased completely after Ukraine refused to extend its transit agreement with Gazprom beyond Dec. 31, 2024.