“It all boils down to this: either we will liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and stop fighting there,” he said in comments from the interview that were carried by state news agency Tass on Thursday. His renewed determination to take the region appeared to pour cold water on US President Donald Trump’s earlier assertion that Witkoff and Kushner had thought the Russian leader wanted “to end the war”.

“Their impression was very strongly that he’d like to make a deal,” Trump said.