President Donald Trump signaled “nice progress” in talks with Russia after Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff held an eleventh-hour assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, amid Trump’s looming Friday ceasefire ultimatum.
“My Particular Envoy, Steve Witkoff, simply had a extremely productive assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Trump wrote in a put up to Fact Social. “Nice progress was made! Afterwards, I up to date a few of our European Allies. Everybody agrees this Warfare should come to an in depth, and we’ll work in the direction of that within the days and weeks to come back. Thanks in your consideration to this matter!”
Trump’s optimistic readout comes after a extra noncommittal assertion from Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Wednesday. Talking with reporters in Washington, Rubio stated that he had talked with Witkoff after the assembly however remained obscure on the prospects of a take care of the Kremlin forward of Friday’s deadline.
“We’ll have another discussions all through the day, after which hopefully there’ll be some bulletins right here pretty quickly — possibly optimistic, possibly not,” Rubio stated.
Trump’s optimistic messaging was additionally tempered by his earlier declaration that he had signed an government order slamming India with an extra 25 % tariff over its Russian oil purchases, bringing the nation’s complete tariff fee to 50 %.
The transfer, which Trump introduced hours earlier than offering a readout of Witkoff’s assembly, indicators Trump’s dedication to following by way of on his threats to make use of tariffs as leverage to power a Russia-Ukraine deal. Trump had repeatedly threatened to hit India with greater tariffs as punishment for its continued purchases of Russian oil.
And if the Kremlin fails to satisfy Friday’s ceasefire deadline, Trump has threatened to slam the nation with an aggressive sanctions scheme, although his repeated threats have but to immediate motion from Putin.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described Wednesday’s talks as constructive, based on Russian state media, saying each side exchanged “indicators” in dialogue on the struggle. Ushakov additionally stated that Putin and Witkoff mentioned potential avenues for strategic growth between the U.S. and Russia, however didn’t present additional element.
Wednesday’s assembly comes as Trump has more and more proven frustration with the Russian chief, in whom he has demonstrated an open mistrust in latest weeks because the Kremlin has refused to have interaction in severe negotiations to finish the yearslong struggle.
After initially granting Russia a 50-day window to come back to a truce settlement with Ukraine in July, Trump final week shortened the timeline to Aug. 8, citing frustrations together with his Russian counterpart’s unwillingness to cooperate.
The assembly additionally comes only a day after Trump held a name with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which the Ukrainian chief described as “productive” in a readout posted to his social media. In keeping with Zelenskyy, the 2 leaders mentioned ending the struggle, sanctioning Russia and finalizing a U.S.-Ukraine draft settlement on drones.
Trump’s strategy to the struggle has shifted drastically throughout the first half-year of his second time period. After repeatedly lauding Putin whereas publicly bashing Zelenskyy and briefly halting army support to the besieged Ukraine, Trump modified course in latest weeks, slamming Putin for dragging his heels within the peace negotiations and saying he’s “disillusioned” within the Russian chief.