Envoy Witkoff visits Russia again for talks with Putin – media

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Axios, citing a source familiar with Witkoff’s trip and data from FlightRadar.

This marks the third meeting between Witkoff and Putin, as Donald Trump continues to push for a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

It is noted that Trump is reportedly frustrated by the lack of progress in negotiations over recent weeks and at one point said he was "pissed off" about Putin’s comments about Ukraine.

According to sources, if a ceasefire is not reached by the end of the month, Trump may introduce additional sanctions against Russia either through executive power or by asking Congress to pass new sanctions legislation.

While Ukraine has agreed to Trump’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire and later accepted plans for a ceasefire in the Black Sea region, Russia made a series of new demands, including the lifting of certain U.S. sanctions.

On Thursday, the U.S. and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange. Negotiations for this deal resulted from a prior meeting between Witkoff and Putin in March.

Previously, Ukrinform reported that U.S. President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff stated in an interview with American blogger Tucker Carlson that the key issue in resolving the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine is the matter of temporarily occupied territories. According to Witkoff, this includes Crimea and “the so-called four regions: Donbas, Luhansk, and two others.” The special envoy echoed Russian narratives about sham referendums held in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories by Russia, which he claimed supposedly justify their “inclusion” into the Russian Federation.

Photo: Bloomberg