US President's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz says that in the issue of liberating the territories of Ukraine from Russian occupation, the United States should proceed from its own national interests.

On ABC News on Sunday, answering the host's question whether Russia will receive as a result of peace talks "the Donbas in addition to hanging onto Crimea, even though they invaded Ukraine," Waltz said: "We have to ask ourselves, is it in our national interest? Is it realistic?"

"We’ve talked to the Europeans about this, and the Ukrainians. Are we going to drive every Russian off of every inch of Ukrainian soil, including Crimea? And what the strategy of the Biden administration was, was, as long as it takes, as much as it takes, no matter what the timeline is, which is essentially endless warfare, in an environment that we are literally losing hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of months. And could escalate into World War III. We can talk about what’s right and wrong. And we also have to talk about the reality of the situation on the ground," he added.

According to the US presidential advisor, this is being done through shuttle diplomacy and indirect negotiations, and he is surprised that this is being criticized.

"We are engaging with the Russians. What we heard from President Putin was that he will absolutely consider a ceasefire. There are some other thing that he would like to see that President Trump’s national security team has – is considering over the coming days... Just think where we were a few months ago. I mean we were literally this far apart. And we are now driving both sides together to achieve a permanent peace, stop the killing, stop the bloodshed that is on the battlefield with thousands of people being lost a day," Waltz said.