Trump envoy Witkoff meets Putin in Moscow ahead of Ukraine ceasefire deadline
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ahead of President Donald Trumps' Friday deadline for Moscow to make peace with Ukraine or face severe sanctions.
According to a senior administration official, the meeting "went well" but secondary sanctions are still expected to be deployed against Moscow this week.
"The Russians are eager to continue engaging with the United States. The secondary sanctions are still expected to be implemented on Friday," the senior administration official said.
Despite no tangible progress toward a ceasefire, the expectation is that talks between Russian and American officials will continue through the day and potentially up until Friday's deadline, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.
President Trump, on social media, suggested the meeting between Witkoff and Putin was "highly productive."
"Great progress was made! 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," Trump wrote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke with Witkoff after the meeting.
"Ambassador Witkoff is on his way back now," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. "I just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago. We'll have some other discussions throughout the day and then hopefully there will be something else to announce here real soon. Maybe positive, maybe not."
Asked about sanctions against Moscow, Rubio said, "We'll have more to say about that later on today."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with Trump and European leaders after the Witkoff-Putin meeting.
"Our joint position with our partners is absolutely clear – the war must end. And it must be done honestly," Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
"Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine," Zelenskyy added.
The meeting between Putin and Witkoff ended after around three hours, according to Russian state media.
Yuri Ushakov, a top aide to Putin, told reporters that the meeting was "a very useful and constructive conversation," in comments reported by Russia's Tass state news agency.
The two main topics discussed were "the Ukrainian crisis" and "the prospect of possible development of strategic cooperation between the United States and Russia," Ushakov said.
"On our part, in particular on the Ukrainian issue, some signals were transmitted," Ushakov said. "The corresponding signals were received from President Trump. Now the situation is such that our president has complete information -- that is, our signals, the signals from President Trump -- and the results of these conversations have not yet been reported to Trump."
"Therefore, I would refrain from more detailed comments," Ushakov said. "Let's see when Witkoff will be able to report to Trump about the conversation that took place today. After that, obviously, we will be able to add my comments to something more substantial."
Witkoff was met on his arrival in Moscow by Kirill Dmitriev -- the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund -- at the capital's Vnukovo Airport, according to state media agencies Tass and Interfax.
The visit is Witkoff's fifth to Moscow since Trump took office, with the special envoy at the forefront of White House efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
Tass reported that Witkoff and Dmitriev walked in the Zaryadye Park in central Moscow before Witkoff's convoy traveled to the Kremlin.
Last month, Trump said he would impose additional economic measures -- including secondary sanctions on Russian fossil fuel export customers, the largest of which are India and China -- if Putin failed to agree to a ceasefire by Aug. 8.
Trump cited Russia's continued drone and missile strikes on Ukraine when issuing his ultimatum to the Kremlin, which was initially set at 50 days but later shortened to only 10 days. In July, Russia set a new monthly record for long-range attacks on Ukraine, per data from the Ukrainian air force, firing 6,443 drones and missiles into the country.
On Wednesday, Trump hit India with an additional 25% tariff -- bringing the total to 50% -- over its purchases of Russian oil.
ABC News' Joe Simonetti, Yuriy Zaliznyak and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
