US President Donald Trump hailed “great progress” following his Russia Envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier on Wednesday.
Previously, the Kremlin said Witkoff and Putin discussed Ukraine and potential cooperation between Washington and Moscow with no further elaboration.
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Trump, in his first update after being briefed by Witkoff following the talks, called them “highly productive,” without specifying what was discussed.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He added that he had also briefed some European allies, again without providing further details.
“Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.
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Witkoff and Putin’s meeting, which came ahead of Trump’s Friday deadline to impose sanctions on Moscow and secondary tariffs on Russian oil buyers, lasted over three hours.
While it is unclear if Trump will proceed with the planned sanctions against Russia, he also ordered sweeping tariffs on Wednesday – an additional 25% – on all Indian imports into the US due to the country’s oil trade with Russia. The announcement came after the Witkoff-Putin meeting but before his Truth Social update.
When asked whether Witkoff’s conversation with Putin could affect the planned sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said further announcements would follow – including potentially “positive” ones.
“We’ll have more to say about that later on today... Ambassador Witkoff’s on his way back now,” Rubio said. “We’ll have some other discussions throughout the day, and then hopefully there’ll be some announcements here fairly soon.”
“Maybe positive, maybe not. We’ll see.”
Witkoff’s Wednesday meeting comes as Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, and peace negotiations remain stalled.
Several rounds of talks in Istanbul have yielded no concrete progress, with Moscow demanding territorial concessions and Kyiv insisting on a full ceasefire before any agreement is reached.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly rejected Putin’s demands, calling them “nonstarters” and urging allies to push for regime change in Moscow. Ukraine continues to push for the return of its occupied territories and firm security guarantees, including future NATO membership.
When asked on Monday whether there was anything Russia could do to avoid the looming sanctions, Trump told reporters: “We’ve got to get to a deal where people stop getting killed.”
“You know, they’re wily characters and they’re pretty good at avoiding sanctions,” he added about the Kremlin. “So we’ll see what happens.”
Witkoff’s Moscow visit comes days after Trump wrote on TruthSocial that two US nuclear submarines had been deployed “to the region” following a testy online exchange with Kremlin insider Dmitry Medvedev.
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