US envoy to visit Russia ahead of sanctions deadline
Mr Trump has given Russia until Friday to halt its offensive in Ukraine or face new penalties.
The White House has not outlined specific actions it plans to take on Friday, but Mr Trump has previously threatened to impose "secondary tariffs" targeting Russia's remaining trade partners, such as China and India.
The move would aim to stifle Russian exports, but would risk significant international disruption.
The US President said yesterday that he would await the outcome of the Moscow talks before moving forward with any economic retaliation.
"We're going to see what happens," he told reporters
"We'll make that determination at that time," he added.
An American source did not specify if the meetings will include Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Mr Witkoff has met several times previously.
Despite pressure from Washington, Russia has continued its offensive against its pro-Western neighbor.
Three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a possible ceasefire, with the two sides appearing as far apart as ever.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support.
Ukraine is calling for an immediate ceasefire and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for "regime change" in Moscow.
In recent weeks, Mr Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Mr Putin over Russia's unrelenting offensive.
When reporters asked Mr Trump on Monday what Mr Witkoff's message would be to Moscow, and if there was anything Russia could do to avoid the sanctions, Mr Trump replied: "Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday Russia considered the talks with Mr Witkoff to be "important, substantial and helpful", and valued US efforts to end the conflict.
Mr Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said Friday that he wants peace but that his demands for ending his nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive were unchanged.
Russia has frequently called on Ukraine to effectively cede control of four regions that Russia claims to have annexed, a demand Ukraine has called unacceptable.
Mr Putin also wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO.
The visit comes after Mr Trump said that two nuclear submarines, he deployed following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, were now "in the region".
Mr Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines.
He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.
Russia, in its first comments on the deployment, urged "caution".
"Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation," Mr Peskov said.
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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Trump plans to meet with Putin as soon as next week
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