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United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff had made “great progress” in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions.
The meeting came two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports.
A White House official said while the meeting had gone well, secondary sanctions that Trump has threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented later this week.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” he added.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who was present, told Russian news outlet Zvezda: “We had a very useful and constructive conversation”.
He said the two sides had exchanged “signals” on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believed Moscow was now more amenable to a ceasefire.
“It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details — neither us nor the US, ” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
Writing separately on the X social media platform, Zelenskyy said he had discussed Witkoff’s visit to Russia with Trump, adding that he had reiterated Ukraine’s support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself.
“Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started,” Zelenskyy said, adding that European leaders had joined the call with Trump.
Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington’s European allies following Witkoff’s meeting.
Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks “disgusting”.
Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times.
Pressure on India
Meanwhile, Trump took a key step toward punitive measures when he imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil. No similar order was signed for China, which also imports Russian oil.
The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any US trading partner.
The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal.
