Spoiler alert: The new “revelations” from Msgr. Bux don’t hold water. Because unless he has access to Doc Brown’s DeLorean, the timeline simply doesn’t work for him, nor his claims. Dr. Mazza will explain on the upcoming Barnhardt Podcast, which was recorded earlier today. But here is a sneak peek from today’s Kokxcast!
Kokx News founder Stephen Kokx speaks with Church historian Dr. Edmund Mazza about the controversial resignation of Benedict XVI and recent allegations made by Msgr. Nicola Bux.
(Today is the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church, who protested at length against antipope Anacletus II, even as that antipope ruled with universal acceptance in Rome for eight years. Got that? Someone who doubts the person of the Pope is NOT schismatic. Upon the death of Anacletus, Pope Innocent II took his rightful place thanks to St. Bernard, Innocent’s Papacy was recognized as being in force for the prior eight years, with the Anacletus antipapacy being fully nullified and expunged. Look it up, because it is only a matter of time before this happens again ;-/. -nvp)
This summer, Monsignor Nicola Bux claimed that Pope Benedict XVI wrote him about public accusations that he had bifurcated the papacy before he died. Among other things, the late Pontiff allegedly wrote the Italian priest in 2014: “To suggest that I resigned only from the exercise of the ministry and not from the munus is contrary to clear dogmatic and canonical doctrine. If some journalists speak of a ‘creeping schism’, they do not deserve any attention.”
Even if Pope Benedict XVI had written that (something I doubt) the late Pontiff is still the one to blame for that rumor that there was a “contemplative Pope” and an “active Pope” over the last decade. I have already written much on this topic, so I’m not going to re-hash it all. But I will remind you that in his last public Wednesday audience at the Vatican, Pope Benedict made it clear he was only executing a semi-resignation to the papacy:
The “always” is also a “for ever” – there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord. I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter.
Does a “semi-resignation” exist? Of course not. And that is why we are going to see how that novelty foisted upon the Chair of St. Peter continues the destruction within the Vatican to this day.
In fact, even though Pope Benedict died on the last day of 2022, I’m not the only one writing about the troubles in Rome connected to his “semi-resignation” through this summer of 2025.
In this article, I will reference two recent writings on the papacy found only in Italian, but translated from Google Translate to the English on my site at an article I labeled Italian Papal News Translations. The first writing on that site comes from Archbishop Viganó from August 2025 on the site of Marco Tosatti. The second comes from a secular Italian writer on the papacy at Roma Today. The full English to both articles are found in the above link. If you want to read them in Italian, also click the above link and you’ll be directed to them.
From Archbishop Viganó’s recent writings, I want to highlight and then comment on some of the most important paragraphs. His words will be in italics below. My commentary will be in bold font, as usual.
Viganó: It will not be surprising to learn—as Cardinal Walter Brandmüller confided to me in January 2020, responding to a specific question of mine—that Professor Joseph Ratzinger developed the theory of the [papal] emeritus and collegial papacy with his colleague Karl Rahner in the 1970s, when both were “young theologians.” During a telephone conversation I had in 2020, a trusted assistant of Benedict XVI confirmed to me the Pope’s intention—reiterated several times to her—to retire to private life in his Bavarian residence, without retaining either the apostolic name or the papal vestments. But this eventuality was considered inappropriate for those who would lose their power in the Vatican, especially those conservatives who looked to Benedict XVI as their model and had mythologized him.
Nix: Notice here that AB. Viganó is again insisting that Ratzinger had it in his head his whole clerical life that a future Pope (be it himself or someone else) could one day become a “Pope Emeritus” will full power shared into a “collegial papacy.” So, if Msgr. Bux really got that letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2014 referenced in the first paragraph, then Benedict XVI simply changed his mind from his earlier insistence on a bifurcated papacy. (Dr. Ed Mazza has repeatedly proven very clearly from Ratzinger’s own writings in the 1980s that he [erroneously] believed a “resigned Pope” would still maintain the grace of office of Pope somehow until death.) So, we can ask this question from the beginning: If Benedict really told Bux he never meant to double-up the papacy into “two Popes” then why did he promote this broken notion from the 1980s forward?
Viganó: It must be said that the institution of the Episcopate Emeritus is also a canonical monster, because with it, the diocesan bishop’s jurisdiction is “frozen” based on his age (upon reaching the age of 75), contrary to the centuries-old practice of the Church. The Emeritus, by diminishing the bishops’ awareness of being Successors of the Apostles, has also had the immediate consequence of a total deprivation of responsibility, relegating them to the role of mere functionaries and bureaucrats. The institutionalization of Episcopal Conferences as governing bodies that interfere with and hinder the exercise of the potestas of individual bishops has certainly constituted an attack on the divine constitution of the Catholic Church and its apostolicity.
Nix: In other words, Ratzinger got his idea of a “Pope Emeritus” being ontologically the same as a Pope from the notion that a “Bishop Emeritus” retains his original ordination, too. Besides the fact that Viganó rightly indicates that both are modernist inventions, we have to remember that there is no ontological change to accepting the papacy, even though it contains new graces and responsibilities as the highest office in the Church. Yet, again in his final Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI revealed he was only semi-resigning when he snuck in there that for him and the papacy, “Always’ is also ‘forever’–there is no return to private life.” Benedict clearly revealed in that statement he believed he would continue as the “contemplative Pope” with Francis as “active Pope,” thus creating a two-headed monster that would ravage the Church and the minds of believers for decades to come.
Viganó: We thus witnessed a sort of artificial separation of the Papacy: on the one hand, the Pope renounced the Papacy, and on the other, the person Papæ, Joseph Ratzinger, sought to maintain certain aspects of it that would guarantee him protection and prestige. Since his physical departure from the Apostolic See could be seen as a form of disapproval of the Church governance line imposed by Bergoglian deep church, both the Personal Secretary and the Secretary of State strongly pressured Ratzinger to remain “half-service,” so to speak, playing on the fictitious separation between munus and ministerium—a separation, moreover, vigorously denied in the Emeritus’s response to Msgr. Bux.
Nix: Basically, Viganó is here saying that while Benedict did indeed believe he bifurcated the papacy into a two headed monster (half-Ratzinger and half-Bergoglio) he regretted up to the end of his life that his “other half” was so much more of a member of the “deep church” than he was. As even Mr. Peter Seewald once admitted: “As a South American and a Jesuit, [Bergoglio] has erased much of what was precious and dear to Ratzinger.” Yes, sadly that Hegelian and naive Ratzinger thought the other half of the bifurcated-papal-monster he created would be Catholic… but it wasn’t.
Nix, now pivoting to the next article translated from Italian to English: What does this have to do with the current situation in the Vatican? A secular writer at Roma Today asked a Cardinal in Rome right after the Conclave of 2025 why they all chose Prevost. Again, see the link found in the third paragraph of my blog today if you want to see the full article in English or Italian.
Roma Today: I risked everything and pressed him: “Your Eminence, how did it go? Is it true that Parolin withdrew his candidacy? Is it true that the College of Cardinals wanted to find a more moderate candidate after Bergoglio?” “My dear son,” he said to me, “you just don’t understand: Prevost was Bergoglio’s only candidate. Even shortly before he died, that old Argentine stubborn man had called all the cardinals he could trust and told them: ‘Please remember: after me, it’s the American’s turn. A missionary, an Augustinian, he will be the best for the Universal Church.’”
Nix: This shows that Prevost was always Bergoglio’s number one pick to succeed him in what they have both labeled “the synodal church.” Also, if this story is true—if a Cardinal really did claim that “Prevost was Bergoglio’s only candidate” and that he chose him, then we’re obviously looking at two successive illegal Conclaves in a row, albeit separated by 12 years. The Roma Today reporter also gives us clear proof that “Leo is Francis 2.0” (as they say) without any respite from the leftist-globalism foisted upon the Vatican beginning in 2013. Or, perhaps you don’t believe the account of a secular Roman journalist regarding an “anonymous Cardinal.” That’s fine. But then just look at the fact that “Pope Leo will host a pro-LGBT Catholic group in Rome…” That is all the evidence you need that “Leo is Francis 2.0” and that he had to be his number-one pick for years prior.
Roma Today: “But why Prevost?” I asked. [The Cardinal replied:] “Because Bergoglio was very clear that after his pushback, a ‘normalizer’ was needed, someone who could reassure the Curia, even though he wasn’t a member of the Curia; someone who could reassure the progressives, even though he wasn’t a traditionalist; and finally, someone who could reassure the traditionalists, because he saw himself as a moderate. This last thing was what worried the old Pope most; he had a clear sense that, at a certain point in his pontificate, schism had actually come close. In short, someone was needed to unite, even a little gray, if you like, but after the fireworks, a little silence is good. Look,” he said, bringing his face closer to mine, “I’ll confess something to you, even the name, on that too I think the Argentine pampas had their say; they needed the name of a Pope of tradition, but also the first Pope who opened the Church to the modern world, the one of ‘Rerum Novarum’.”
Nix: It’s very telling that this anonymous Cardinal in Rome admitted that Prevost was chosen to “reassure the traditionalists” he was a moderate, even though he was Bergoglio’s first pick after the bifurcated Papacy of Benedict XVI. I have to ask you dear readers: Does any of this sound legit to you? Does any of this sound like a valid Conclave? Does any of this even sound Catholic? Of course, there has always been lobbying in past Conclaves (and sometimes even funny-business) but never have we seen a full re-definition of the papacy introduced by imposters until the 21st century. Yes, this level of infiltration is even more novel than Vatican II, even if the two of them are theologically and sociologically connected.
Roma Today: Anonymous Cardinal: “Only then, to put an end to the matter immediately, did Bergoglio’s most trusted man, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, (coincidentally the Synod’s general rapporteur, Bergoglio’s brainchild) take action. Hollerich set things straight, and Parolin, at that point, declared his unwillingness to be elected. So it was a landslide: 107 votes. I believe poor Erdő even asked not to be voted for again, but the hardline traditionalists had figured out the game and wanted to represent their dissent. In short, only those who made a mistake didn’t vote for Prevost.”
Nix: The Holy See stated earlier this year that even though Pope John Paul II officially limited the number of Conclave-voting Cardinals to 120, it would simply “dispense” with this number because the late-Francis wanted more Cardinals to succeed him on the next vote. Thus, it’s either hilarious or devastating (or both) that the above anonymous Cardinal brags about so many illegal voters (men of whom even EWTN claimed another anonymous Cardinal admitted earlier this year that only “ten Cardinals have a good, solid understanding of the faith”) for that “Conclave” which avoided all past rules on electing a true Pope. Of course, this is all downstream of the invalid-bifurcation attempt upon the papacy executed by Pope Benedict XVI. Don’t believe me? No problem. See the overwhelming evidence to these claims in the above links from Ratzinger, Viganó, Seewald, Mazza and others.
Thank you if you’re able to Donate to my online-teaching ministry.
Blessed Feast of Saint John Eudes. Enjoy some selected quotes. -nvp
God inspired in the heart of the pure Virgin Mary His own intense love for humility…It was this humility which attracted to her the countless graces which rendered her worthy to be the Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth.
No one who shall invoke this Mother of Grace with devotion and perseverance can possibly perish forever.
O admirable Mother of God! How many sins have I committed for which thou hast obtained pardon for me, and how many others would I have committed if thou hadst not preserved me? How often have I seen myself on the brink of Hell in obvious danger of falling into it but for thy most benign hand which saved me? How often would the Roaring Lion of Hell have devoured and swallowed up my soul had not the charity of thy heart opposed him? Alas! Without thee, my dearest and my all-good Mother, where should I be today? I should be in the fiery furnace of Hell from which I would never emerge!
Every Saint belongs to the court of the Queen of All Saints.
Any innovation in matters of faith is extremely pernicious and utterly damnable!
A Christian has a union with Jesus Christ more noble, more intimate and more perfect than the members of a human body have with their head.
The crosses with which our path through life is strewn associate us with Jesus in the mystery of His crucifixion.
I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that in serving him you may give him praise, love and glory.
Let us therefore give ourselves to God with a great desire to begin to live thus, and beg Him to destroy in us the life of the world of sin, and to establish His life within us.
https://www.azquotes.com/author/32529-John_Eudes
NEW MAZZA COURSES NEXT MONTH!
UPDATE 8/18 0715 MST: Mary Ann reports the Blogger platform has deplatformed her post. Censored without warning for “violating their guidelines.” It is interesting that this wasn’t some random rant, but rather a fully annotated essay with all the direct quotes backed up with links to original sources (published studies, sworn Senate testimony, etc). Thankfully I mirrored it here before they bitter clinged her.
Posted by Mary Ann Kreitzer
The CDC continues to push the COVID-19 gene therapy despite more and more evidence of serious and even lethal damage to the vaccinated. We’ve heard over and over again the mantra, “Follow the science!”, but Big Pharma and their allies in the government health care system support only one narrative, the big bucks narrative. Hospitals received financial rewards for pushing the deadly Remdesivir/ventilator protocol. Those doctors who advocated ivermectin and other alternative therapies that were highly effective were mocked, doxed, and, sometimes lost their licenses.
The scientific data is out there, but don’t expect the complicit media to publish it. That’s why we need alternative media and megaphone blogs to share information from the real scientists open to learning from the data.
Here are a few articles that indicate the danger of the COVID jab. The first was published in February. It examined the forensic evidence following autopsy. It was a small study, but the sample indicates that more autopsies should be done to examine the impact of the COVID shot. Why aren’t they being done? Maybe the follow-the-science “experts” don’t want to see what the autopsies are revealing. So check out this first study:
The Autopsy Data Are In: What They Reveal About COVID-19 Vaccines and Public Health Oversight:
“A Pattern in Post-Vaccination Deaths
“The Hulscher et al. systematic review examined 325 autopsy cases from 44 published studies, finding that 73.9% of deaths were adjudicated by independent physicians as being directly caused by or significantly linked to COVID-19 vaccination. The leading causes of death included:
– Sudden cardiac death (35%)
– Pulmonary embolism (12.5%)
– Myocardial infarction (12%)
– Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT, 7.9%)
– Myocarditis (7.1%)
– Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (4.6%)
– Cerebral hemorrhage (3.8%)“Most deaths occurred within one to two weeks of vaccination, with the highest concentration in the first week. The temporal relationship between vaccination and fatal outcomes suggests an urgent need for deeper forensic investigation.
“However, while the autopsies in Hulscher et al.’s study provide invaluable insight, they are only part of the picture. Rose’s (2025) new analysis of VAERS autopsy data exposes an even larger issue: the dramatic decline in autopsy rates despite rising post-vaccine deaths.”
The next study looked at comparative results between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and found a significant increase in stroke, heart attack, coronary artery disease, and arrhythmia in the vaccinated. I know several people personally who developed arrhythmia after the vaccine. It’s a logical fallacy to say that B came after A, therefore A caused B, but these studies indicate a serious likelihood. When are the “experts” who ridiculed their peers going to do studies to evaluate the damage of the “vaccines” on the vaccines?
“This large-scale analysis of over 85 million individuals shows that COVID-19 vaccines are associated with significantly increased risks of stroke, heart attack, coronary artery disease, and arrhythmia. Pfizer’s mRNA injections (BNT162b2) were specifically linked to substantial increases in stroke, myocardial infarction, and coronary artery disease—particularly following the first and second doses. Arrhythmia risk was elevated following the first dose of any vaccine, with the strongest signal observed after AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1.
“As each day passes, a new study is published that reveals the serious harms of the COVID-19 genetic countermeasures. They must be removed from global markets immediately.”
The last article relates to data provided to the U.S. Senate about the dangers of the COVID jab. Dr. Peter McCullough was one of the doctors persecuted for revealing the dangerous truth about the COVID shots.
Dr. McCullough Drops the Hammer in the Senate — FDA Concedes with Expanded Myocarditis Warning
“Dr. McCullough presented data from both his clinical experience and the peer-reviewed literature, exposing the widespread risks of COVID-19 mRNA injections — particularly myocarditis in young men and fatal vaccine outcomes confirmed by autopsy.
“’I’ve examined thousands of patients with this problem,’ he told the Senate. ‘Before the pandemic, I had seen just two cases in my entire career.’
“Just one day before the hearing, likely for preemptive damage control purposes, the FDA quietly updated its myocarditis warning on Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines, expanding the risk category to males aged 16 to 25 and citing an incidence of 8 cases per million doses for the 2023–2024 formulations. Unfortunately, no mention of death was added — despite robust, peer-reviewed autopsy evidence confirming fatal vaccine-induced myocarditis.
“Dr. McCullough referenced multiple such cases, including the tragic findings of Gill et al, who documented two teenage boys (ages 16 and 17) found dead at home just days after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. Autopsies confirmed unequivocal myocarditis as the cause of death….
“Dr. McCullough’s testimony was clear, data-driven, and difficult to ignore.
He made the case that public health agencies minimized known harms, failed to act on early warning signs, and still have not provided the public with full transparency.”
Dr. McCullough would like to see, at the very least, a black box warning on the COVID vaccine if it isn’t pulled off the market altogether. The black box warning lets medical personnel and patients know that a drug has serious and even life-threatening side effects. The warning is prominently displayed on the packaging.
It’s amazing how many people around the world were willing to be guinea pigs in the largest drug experiment ever conducted with few trials and drug company cover ups when they knew the risks. That Big Pharma has been protected from the results of their fraudulent promotion of the vaccine is horrifying. It has also contributed to vaccine hesitancy and a major loss of trust in the fields of science and medicine.
Shall we talk about all the scientific papers withdrawn and retracted? Better save that for another day and another post. Meanwhile, you won’t find me in the vaccine line at the local pharmacy.
https://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2025/08/covid-vax-poisoned-jab-that-keeps-on.html
So it came to pass that there were fresh layoffs announced on the final day of production before summer break at the Windsor, ON plant that makes all the Dodge Charger EVs that nobody wants. ICYMI, several years ago Stellantis decided to curb stomp their bread and butter best-selling old-school Charger and Challenger for 2025, instead shifting to all-EV models… no gasoline nor even hybrid available, basically shitting on their core customer. Oh and instead of blue collar, cheap muscle, the 2025 electric starts at $60K for the base model. Meanwhile, you can still buy a Durango with a Hemi-V8 for ten grand less, and you will never have to plug in. What could go wrong?
The handful of workers who spoke to CBC Friday outside the Windsor assembly plant said they expect workers to be back on the job before long. “Could be a couple weeks,” Emanuele Caruana said. “Right now things aren’t looking too good, but they’re going to be good soon.” Dave Lumley isn’t worried at all, and predicted the workers would be back on the job before Christmas. “It’s just temporary,” he said. Lumley attributed the layoffs to changes in Dodge Charger production at the plant. “We have a battery area, and … we’re not building batteries,” he said.
So why are these workers so cheery upon getting their pink slips? Because the future is bright. Today’s layoffs promise tomorrow’s overtime pay… very, very soon. But why? Aren’t they afraid of tariffs? What could possibly be the good news?
The good news is that the climate hoaxers who made all the bad decisions are gone, and the new muscle smells like napalm in the morning. While the old Hemi won’t fit into the new car, they cooked up something even better, less two cylinders. 2026 brings high-tech gasoline and screaming performance, standard. The BASE MODEL makes 420HP, for $10K less than the current model. I will end my commentary here, and simply cut and paste the bullets points from the press release last week. Smells like… victory.
https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?id=26969&mid=1
(Originally posted August 15, 2021)
Happy Feast of the glorious Assumption!
“The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people.” Lesson, Feast of the Assumption, Judith 13:22-25; 15:10
The Assumption is the Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary. Fruit of the mystery is a well-provided death. You really need to start praying for that. We are sprinting toward all manner of persecution, and as we learned last year, the sacraments are not guaranteed. Get your house in order and be prepared. Do it right now, today.
The Fifth Glorious Mystery is Mary’s Coronation. Fruit of the mystery is trust in Mary’s intercession. It means really trusting her with your needs, in a spirit of holy hope and NOT in a spirit of desperation or helplessness. Get out of your own way and hand it over to her. She has been directed to cut off the head of the prince of our enemies. She’s got this.
Pray the Rosary, every day. It is life changing. Fly to her and trust in her.
Also, have I mentioned practicing Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at least once a week? Schedule it on your calendar the way you would a super important work meeting, because it is even more important than that. You need to spend time with your Creator, and He really wants you there. You don’t need structured prayers; just converse with Him. You cannot hear His voice without silence and stillness. Listen to Him. If you don’t think you can do an hour, try fifteen minutes to start. He doesn’t need much to work with.
God is in charge, and His Mother is directing traffic. Go to them.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Queen of the Universe, pray for us.
Virgin Most Powerful, pray for us.
Happy feast, everyone!
I have not watched the episode. I have never watched an episode, and I have no idea how people have time for daily, never-ending multiple podcasts. I am poaching this from Jeff Childers (below), so you can go investigate. The news here is that she refuses to use the term “aliens,” and rightly so. But “aliens” is surely the ruse that will be used in the next forced compliance op, so she is taking a big risk with the deep state. She knows what she is dealing with, and it seems more and more that we are in possession of intel/tech from demons. Makes total sense, since the signs and wonders of antichrist will need to come from somewhere. Stay Confessed, folks. -nvp
Yesterday, on Joe Rogan’s podcast Episode 2365, photogenic Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) described her Congressional Task Force investigation into the looming alien menace, albeit in fuzzy and semi-spiritual detail. Carefully calling them “interdimensional beings,” Luna said, “this gets into deeper aspects of religion… you have the modern-day Bible, and… books of the Bible that have been removed that explain these topics.”
Her conviction after reviewing what the government is so far willing to cough up does, one must admit, give pause.
“We’ve heard from people… I take it with a grain of salt, because you do have a lot of crazy people, and there’s a lot of fake stuff out there,” Luna admitted. “But when you have people that are high-level executives, very successful, clean-cut, not on drugs, and they’re telling you this stuff, and you’re cross-referencing it with various people in the intelligence agencies, there’s something there that we should be at least open to hearing the argument.”
Luna referred to classified evidence —without describing it specifically— that she believes shows we’re dealing with interdimensional beings who can travel through space and time.
It was purified catnip for alien watchers, so have a field day. Rogan and Luna also dug into topics like remote viewing, autistic telepathy, and other stuff I’ve never heard of. But hey, it’s 2025, and intergalactic comets are buzzing all the planets near Earth, and the science media is straight-out reporting about astrophysicists speculating about alien probes, so who knows.
And to be fair, Luna never called them “aliens.” Not in the sense that they hail from other spacefaring planets, come in peace, or want to be taken to our leader, and so forth. She seemed to hew to a more Biblical view, that the non-human visitors are fallen angelic beings using high-tech transportation. But mileage may vary. Especially interdimensional mileage…
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/sledge-hammer-thursday-august-14
By David Charter, Washington
Russia and the United States have discussed a model for ending the war in Ukraine that mirrors Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, The Times has been told.
Under this scenario Russia would have military and economic control of occupied Ukraine under its own governing body, imitating Israel’s de facto rule of Palestinian territory seized from Jordan in 1967.
The idea was raised weeks ago in discussions between Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s peace envoy, and his Russian counterparts, according to a source close to the US national security council.
Witkoff, who is also tasked by Trump with bringing peace to the Middle East, is understood to support the idea, which the Americans believe circumvents barriers in the Ukrainian constitution to ceding territory without holding an “all-Ukraine” referendum.
