US Envoy Meets Putin in Russia for Ukraine Ceasefire Talks

US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday to tout Washington’s plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, a day after Donald Trump issued a direct appeal to the Russian president to halt his offensive.

Trump has been trying to broker a truce between Moscow and Kyiv to end three years of fighting, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite several rounds of negotiation.

Russia launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine in 2022, hoping to take the country in days, but has since become embroiled in a huge, bloody conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

Video published by Russian state media showed Witkoff meeting Putin at the Kremlin, with the two smiling, shaking hands and exchanging a few words in English before beginning talks.

The billionaire real estate investor is playing a key role in Washington’s peace efforts and has already met Putin three times since Trump returned to the White House in January.

Trump has threatened to walk away from talks if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire.

On Thursday, after Russian attacks on Kyiv killed 12 people, Trump wrote on social media: “Vladimir, STOP!”, adding “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”

When asked how he would respond if Russia did not accept a deal, Trump said Thursday: “I won’t be happy, let me put it that way. Things will happen.”

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‘Pressure’

The United States has not revealed the details of its peace plan, but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea – a peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014 – in exchange for peace.

Trump was quoted as saying in a TIME magazine interview published on Friday: “Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that.”

Ukraine has rejected ceding ground to Moscow, and says it will not accept Russian control of Crimea.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent months accepted that he might have to try to secure the return of some land captured by Russia through diplomacy once a ceasefire is in place.

Zelensky had on Thursday expressed frustration at a lack of “pressure” on Putin from the West, despite the United States warning of repercussions if Moscow refused a deal.

“I don’t see any strong pressure on Russia or any new sanctions packages against Russia’s aggression,” he said during a visit to South Africa.

Putin last month rejected a US proposal of a full and unconditional ceasefire that Zelensky has accepted and repeatedly called for since.

Trump, who has been accused of favoring Russia and who has repeatedly vilified Zelensky, said Thursday that the main concession Russia would make in any peace deal was “stopping taking the whole country.”

Moscow currently occupies around 20% of Ukraine and in addition to Crimea has attempted to annex four other Ukrainian regions.

Witkoff told Fox News earlier this month that a peace settlement hinged on the status of the “so-called five territories” – a comment that drew a sharp rebuke from Zelensky, who accused the US envoy of “spreading Russian narratives.”

As Witkoff arrived in Russia on Friday, authorities there reported a senior general had been killed in a car bombing outside Moscow.

Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the attack, though it bore the hallmarks of previous assassinations claimed by Ukraine.

Russia also fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine between late Thursday and early Friday, hours before Witkoff’s visit to Moscow, the Ukrainian army said.

A Russian drone strike killed at least three people including a child in the central Ukrainian city of Pavlograd, rescuers said.