US president's advisor Steve Witkoff literally repeats key Russian talking points regarding occupation of Ukrainian regions ignoring the fact that these referendums were entirely illegal according to Ukraine's and international law. The most drastic violation was that Russia declared referendums for the whole regions which is did not even control - and still doesn't control, so even if they were legal, they did not represent these regions as a whole. That is especially the case in Zaporizhzhia oblast' where vast majority of population lives in the town of the same name, which Russians have never reached. Interestingly, Witkoff then speaks of legal challenges o Ukraine's constitution but this is precisely why they were illegal - they were conducted in violation of Ukraine's constitution in the first place. Witkoff also refers to the classic fallacy about "Russian-speaking regions", which is not only not true factually but also irrelevant to the legal status of these regions - speaking Russian doesn't automatically grant Russian Federation the right to control its speakers. Ironically, Witkoff is speaking English so using his own logic he should be the subject of the English royals, Spanish-speaking population of US should be subjected to Spain etc. There's no doubt that the logic presented by Russia, and here also Witkoff, was recognised by the US as legally invalid, because US has been consistently rejecting to recognise legality of Russian annexation. Notably, these "referendums" have been not recognised by any UN state except for North Korea - not even Russia's allies such as Belarus have recognised them.