US Envoy Witkoff Meets Putin Ahead of Trump’s Ukraine Ceasefire Deadline

US Envoy Witkoff Meets Putin Ahead of Trump’s Ukraine Ceasefire Deadline

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil.

RMN News Political Desk
August 6, 2025

US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday (August 6) morning. The talks, which lasted three hours, took place as Donald Trump’s deadline for Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine rapidly approaches. Steve Witkoff landed in Russia early on Wednesday. Images shared by Russian outlets showed the two men, who have met several times before, smiling and shaking hands in a gilded hall.

The meeting occurs amidst President Trump’s warning that 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. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the threat of tougher US sanctions and tariffs on nations buying Russian oil, stating his belief that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money.

Despite Trump’s threats of sanctions, Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine. Expectations for a settlement by Friday are muted. Trump, who previously claimed he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day before taking office, has since expressed impatience at the lack of tangible progress, leading to a hardening of his rhetoric towards Russia. He stated, “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,”.

Trump repeatedly claims to have ended multiple conflicts globally, including a “31-year bloodbath” between the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, often asserting he used trade as leverage. Now, discussions are gaining traction for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts, particularly concerning the India-Pakistan ceasefire and the Kashmir dispute.

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The conflict, which began with Moscow’s full-invasion three-and-a-half years ago, has seen three rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul fail to bring the war closer to an end. Moscow’s military and political preconditions for peace remain unacceptable to Kyiv and 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 $200 million of additional military sales to Ukraine on Tuesday following a phone call between Zelensky and Trump. During this call, 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.

A couple of days ago, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced a significant step in Allied support for Ukraine, welcoming the first package of U.S. military equipment for Ukraine coordinated under the new NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

Recent attacks have resulted in significant casualties. The Kyiv City Military Administration reported that the toll of an attack on the city last week rose to 32 after a man died of his injuries, making it the deadliest strike on Kyiv since the start of the invasion. Ukrainian authorities also reported a Russian attack on a holiday camp in the central region of Zaporizhzhia that left two dead and 12 wounded. Zelensky commented on such attacks, saying, “There’s no military sense in this attack. It’s just cruelty to scare people,”.

Although the relationship between Putin and Trump has reportedly “soured,” Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow this week is viewed by some as a sign that an agreement between Russia and the US to end the fighting in Ukraine could yet be reached. The Kremlin, for its part, has played down Trump’s nuclear rhetoric as the US envoy’s visit approached.