US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia’s Vladimir Putin had engagement on Wednesday at the Kremlin in Russia as Donald Trump’s deadline for Moscow to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.
The US president has said Russia could face hefty sanctions or see secondary sanctions imposed against all those who trade with it if it doesn’t take steps to end the “horrible war” with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, warned that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money. He welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.
Expectations are muted for a settlement by Friday, and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite Trump’s threats of sanctions.
Before taking office in January, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day. He failed and has since grown impatient at a lack of tangible progress, with his rhetoric towards Russia hardening.
“We thought we had [the war] settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,” he said last month.
Three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to an end, three-and-a-half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.
