US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have met at the Kremlin, as Donald Trump’s deadline for Moscow to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine looms.
The talks lasted three hours, Russian media report, after Witkoff landed in Russia early on Wednesday.
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.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has 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.
In images shared by Russian outlets, the two men – who have met several times before – were seen smiling and shaking hands in a gilded hall.
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 and end, three-and-a-half years after Moscow launched its full-invasion.
Moscow’s military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and to its Western partners. The Kremlin has also repeatedly turned down Kyiv’s requests for a meeting between Zelensky and Putin.
Meanwhile, the US administration approved $200m of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump, in which the two leaders also discussed defence cooperation and drone production.
Ukraine has been using drones to hit Russia’s refineries and energy facilities, while Moscow has focused its air attacks on Ukraine’s cities.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries. The strike was the deadliest on Kyiv since the start of the invasion.
Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday reported that a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia left two dead and 12 wounded.
“There’s no military sense in this attack. It’s just cruelty to scare people,” Zelensky said.