Moscow, Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Steve Witkov, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, in Moscow on Wednesday. According to the Kremlin, which did not provide further details about the meeting.
Putin and Witkov’s meeting comes days before the deadline set for Russia to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine, otherwise it may face harsh economic sanctions that countries that buy Russian oil may also be exposed to.
Video footage broadcast by TASS news agency earlier in the day showed Witkov speaking during an early morning tour of Zaryadye Park, located near the Kremlin, with the Russian President’s envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev.
Dmitriev has played a key role in direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in recent months, as well as talks between Russia and US officials. The negotiations have yielded no progress in ending the three-year war.
The deadline set by Trump for Putin expires the day after tomorrow, Friday. Washington has threatened to impose “significant tariffs” and other economic sanctions on Russia unless the war in Ukraine stops.
Trump is frustrated with the Russian escalation
Trump expressed his growing frustration with Putin over Russia’s escalation of strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine, which aim to undermine morale and the people’s desire for war. The intense strikes occurred despite Trump urging the Russian president in recent months to ease the pressure.
Russian forces struck an entertainment center on Tuesday-Wednesday night in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine, killing two people and wounding 12 others, including two children, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Russian forces launched 4 strikes on the area and initially used powerful glide bombs.
“There is no military logic in this strike,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post. It’s just brutality for the sake of intimidation.
