Trump’s Envoy Witkoff in Russia for Talks With Putin as Ceasefire Deadline Nears

Special envoy of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Russia, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, April 11.

This will mark their third meeting as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to find a path toward ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, Axios reports, citing a source familiar with the trip and flight data from FlightRadar.

The article reports that Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in ceasefire negotiations and was recently described as “pissed of” over Putin’s recent comments about Ukraine.

A source in politics told Kyiv Post:

“Trump wants some kind of victory [in talks with Putin on ending the war] in his first 100 days in office. Hopefully there’ll be some version of a ceasefire — including a humanitarian track.”

According to Axios, if no ceasefire deal is reached by the end of the month, Trump may impose additional sanctions on Russia — either through an executive order or by appealing to Congress for new sanctions legislation. Meanwhile, FlightRadar24 showed that the same aircraft Witkoff previously used to travel to Russia landed in St. Petersburg on Friday morning.

On Friday, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Putin is planning a “regional trip,” but the exact destination remains undisclosed. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Witkoff’s arrival in Russia but declined to say whether a meeting with Putin was scheduled.

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“If it happens, we will announce it,” he said.

While Ukraine has agreed to Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire, Russia has issued a list of further conditions — including the partial lifting of US sanctions.

Today marks one month since Russia rejected the full 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States and Ukraine.

Since then, Russia has launched at Ukraine nearly 70 missiles of various types, over 2,200 Shahed drones, and more than 6,000 guided aerial bombs.

In parallel, American and Russian diplomats held another round of talks in Istanbul on Thursday aimed at exploring a potential “reset” in bilateral relations.

Last week, Witkoff hosted Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in Washington in what was reported to be discussions on economic cooperation.