Trump envoy Witkoff urged to take tough approach with Putin in make-or-break meeting to end Ukraine war before sanctions
As more than six months have passed with no diplomatic progress, well-placed sources tell The Post special envoy Steve Witkoff has been encouraged to take a sterner approach with Moscow's leader ahead of Wednesday's make-or-break meeting — in line with President Trump's recent expressions of disgust at Putin's continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Whether Witkoff will take that advice remains unclear.
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3 President Trump is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin one last chance to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started over 3 years ago.
via REUTERS
A spokesperson for the special envoy declined to comment on the record for this story.
Meanwhile, the White House national security team responsible for the Ukraine war held multiple meetings on Tuesday, trying to work out how Washington might best persuade Russia to silence its guns, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Trump himself said Tuesday he would wait to see how the sitdown went before making a final decision on whether to enact secondary sanctions and slapping more tariffs on countries that provide Russia with its main source of income: oil purchases.
'We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow, we're going to see what happens. We'll make a determination at that time,' said the president, before denying that he had promised to set the additional rates at 100% — as he appeared to suggest last month.
'I never said a percentage, but we'll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time.'
3 U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will allegedly take a sterner approach in the crucial make-or-break meeting on Wednesday in an effort for the war in Ukraine to end for good.
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A source familiar with discussions insisted that sanctions are not inevitable when Trump's deadline is reached Friday, saying the administration is 'pushing hard for a deal. That's always the president's preferred outcome.'
As part of his prep, Witkoff has been briefed on the historical motivations behind Putin's war on Ukraine — namely his desire to reconstitute as much of the former Soviet Union as possible, according to a US official.
Last month, as Trump's rhetoric toward Moscow began to toughen, Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine retired Gen. Keith Kellogg said that the president 'now realizes that Putin is not a business partner.'
3 President Trump said he'll see if tomorrow's sit-down will be effective before making a final decision on whether he'll slap more tariffs on Russia.
REUTERS
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The commander in chief — so often praised for his businesslike, transactional approach to politics — is up against a ruler who represents the opposite of that approach.
That's why the earlier, more cordial approach — complete with Witkoff jovially greeting Putin at the Kremlin — did not work, according to one source. Subsequent offers of reduced sanctions and off-ramps for Russia to end its war were also not enough to persuade Moscow to change its calculus.
Russia, for its part, is hoping for more of the same. Witkoff's Wednesday trip comes at the behest of the Kremlin, which invited the envoy after Trump threatened to levy the secondary sanctions.
Meanwhile, as Trump's words toward Putin have grown increasingly harsh, Kremlin thought leaders have been denigrating the US president on X.
Russian philosopher and Putin confidant Alexander Dugin declared Monday that Trump was crazy, an about-face from a year ago, when Dugin — nicknamed 'Putin's brain' for his purported heavy influence on the Russian leader — endorsed Trump for president in 2024.
'I come to very sad conclusion: Donald Trump is totally mad. It is the shame. We loved him,' Dugin posted to X.
Last week, ex-Russian president and current deputy chair of the Kremlin's security council Dmitry Medvedev also blasted Trump for threatening sanctions.
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