Washington, United States – Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, will head to Moscow on Wednesday, where he will meet with the Russian leadership, a close source said Tuesday, without providing additional clarifications.
Witkov has previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly in Moscow, but this visit comes after the US President gave Russia until Friday to stop its attack in Ukraine under penalty of being subjected to new US sanctions.
The White House did not reveal what measures it intends to take on Friday, but Trump had previously threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” targeting Russia’s remaining trading partners, such as China and India.
Three rounds of negotiations took place between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, but without achieving any breakthrough on the path to reaching a ceasefire, in light of the continued great divergence in the positions of the two countries.
Moscow demands that Kiev officially abandon four regions partially controlled by the Russian army: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed unilaterally in 2014.
In addition, Moscow requires that Ukraine stop receiving Western weapons and abandon its ambitions to join NATO.
Kiev considers these conditions unacceptable and, for its part, demands the withdrawal of Russian forces and Western security guarantees, including the continued receipt of weapons and the deployment of a European battalion on its territory.
