US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday, Russian media reported, as President Donald Trump’s deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine drew near.
Trump has warned that Moscow could face severe sanctions — including secondary penalties on countries that continue trading with Russia — if it fails to take steps to end what he has called a “horrible war.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia would only move toward peace once its finances were strained, and he welcomed the threat of tougher US measures, including sanctions and tariffs on nations purchasing Russian oil.
Expectations for progress before Friday’s deadline remain low. Russia has continued large-scale airstrikes on Ukraine, despite Trump’s warnings. Three previous rounds of talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul have failed to make headway, more than three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
The Kremlin’s military and political conditions for peace remain unacceptable to Ukraine and its Western allies, and Moscow has rejected repeated calls for a direct Zelensky-Putin meeting.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Tuesday approved $200 million in additional military sales to Ukraine following a phone call between Trump and Zelensky, in which the two also discussed defense cooperation and drone production. Ukraine has increasingly relied on drones to target Russian refineries and energy sites, while Moscow has focused its strikes on Ukrainian cities.
In Kyiv, officials said the death toll from a missile strike last week rose to 32 after a man succumbed to his injuries. It was the deadliest attack on the capital since the war began.
Ukrainian authorities also reported that a Russian strike on a holiday camp in the Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday killed two people and wounded 12. “There’s no military sense in this attack. It’s just cruelty to scare people,” Zelensky said.
