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US President Donald Trump is nearing a crucial deadline for a ceasefire in Ukraine after his special envoy held talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, amid talk of ending missile and drone attacks in a step toward peace.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, local time, in a long-awaited meeting to discuss Trump’s threat to intensify sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its allies unless there is a significant move towards a ceasefire.
Vladimir Putin with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff after their meeting at the Kremlin.Credit: AP
Witkoff prepared for the talks by visiting Zaryadye Park in Moscow, in footage aired by the Russian news agency TASS, and then meeting Kirill Dmitriev, a top aide to Putin and the head of the Russia government’s direct investment fund.
Trump warned last week that Putin had 10 days to act on peace with Ukraine or face mammoth secondary tariffs, scaling up the economic threat to Russia after more than three years of war. The deadline expires this Friday, August 8.
While the US president has not forecast his actions on Friday, he confirmed the deadline this week after bringing it forward from a 50-day deadline he set for Putin last month.
“We’re going to see what happens,” he said on Tuesday when asked what he would do at the end of this week. “We’ll make that determination at that time.”
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Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace, airing his concerns at a press conference with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland on July 29.
He set a 50-day deadline for Putin in early July, giving the Russian leader until September 2 to stop firing missiles and drones at Ukrainian civilians and agree to a peace deal. He adjusted this to set the August 8 deadline instead.
“There’s no reason in waiting, there’s no reason in waiting,” he said in Scotland.
The president has repeatedly expressed frustration that the Russian leader would make claims about peace in their private conversations but continue bombing Ukraine at night.
“Russia could be so rich, instead they spend all their money on war,” Trump said at the appearance with Starmer. “I thought he’d want to end this thing quickly, but every time I think it’s going to end, he kills people.”
The White House threats include potential secondary tariffs on China and India, which continue to buy Russian oil.
It was not clear what Russia might offer to Witkoff in order to avoid further economic pressure from the US.
Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on air strikes by Russia and Ukraine - an idea that was mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian missiles and drones continued to attack targets overnight, including a recreational facility in Zaporizhzhia.
Smoke rises over a residential building destroyed by a Russian air strike on Kramatorsk, Ukraine.Credit: AP
“Twelve people have been injured. As of now, sadly, two people are confirmed dead,” he said on social media site X.
“Also at night, there were vicious attacks on power grids in the Dnipro region, a drone-dropped munition targeting civilians in Kherson, and a strike on a gas facility in Novosilske, Odesa region. Hundreds of families were left without gas. In the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, the Russians targeted people’s private homes.
“No matter what the Kremlin says, they will only genuinely seek to end the war once they feel adequate pressure.”
With Reuters
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