Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly denied the report as “total fake news and sloppy reporting by the Times.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
U.S. and Russian officials are looking at Judea and Samaria as a model for Russia’s control of areas of Ukraine after the war, according to a report by The London Times.
The newspaper reported that a “source close to the U.S. National Security Council” proposed that, while the territories in question will remain officially a part of Ukraine, they will be subject to Russian economic and security control with a Russian governor.
“It’ll just be like Israel occupies the West Bank,” the Times quoted the source as saying. “With a governor, with an economic situation that goes into Russia, not Ukraine.”
The source continued, “But it’ll still be Ukraine, because … Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it’ll be occupied territory, and the model is Palestine.”
The Times reported that the idea was floated during a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Russian officials.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly denied the report as “total fake news and sloppy reporting by the Times, which clearly has terrible sources. Nothing of the sort was discussed with anyone at any point.”
Israel has controlled Judea and Samaria since it conquered the territories in the 1967 war.
Since 1994, daily life in Judea and Samaria has been managed by the Palestinian Authority, with 500,000 Israeli Jews living in these areas.
Trump and Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet and discuss ending the conflict with Ukraine in Alaska on Friday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are set to meet on Thursday in London.
There are concerns that, since Zelensky was not invited to the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, the leaders of the U.S. and Russia will create a proposal that involves painful concessions from Ukraine.
Zelensky has insisted that he is not prepared to surrender areas of Ukraine to Russia.
Trump has given mixed messages on whether he will schedule an additional meeting that includes both Putin and Zelensky.
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