Moscow: In a significant diplomatic move, US special envoy Steve Witkoff held a lengthy meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday. The four-hour discussion centered on finding a resolution to the war in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. This marked Witkoff’s third visit to Putin this year, and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the talks as “productive.”
President Donald Trump, who has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with the ongoing conflict, urged Putin to accelerate peace efforts. “Russia has to get moving. Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war,” Trump posted online.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, retired General Keith Kellogg, pushed back on claims made by The Times that he supported a partition of Ukraine. The newspaper quoted him as suggesting a scenario reminiscent of Cold War-era Berlin, with British and French troops in the west and Russian forces remaining in the occupied east. Kellogg later clarified on social media that his comments were misrepresented and that he was referring to a post-ceasefire support force for Ukraine’s sovereignty, not a division of the country.
Both the White House and Ukrainian officials have yet to publicly respond to Kellogg’s remarks. Meanwhile, European defense ministers announced a new €21 billion military aid package for Ukraine, reaffirming their commitment as the war shows no signs of ending.
Ahead of the Witkoff-Putin meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned against expecting any major breakthroughs, saying relations were still in a normalization phase. When asked if a future Trump-Putin meeting was discussed, Peskov said it would depend on what Witkoff had brought to the table.
Witkoff also met with Dmitriev at the Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, where a conference on stainless steel and the Russian market was taking place. Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, recently traveled to Washington, becoming the highest-ranking Russian official to visit the US since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the site of a deadly missile strike in his hometown of Kryvyi Rih. The April 4 attack killed 19 people, including nine children. Zelensky accused the Kremlin of extending the conflict and claimed several hundred Chinese nationals were fighting alongside Russian forces. Ukraine recently captured two Chinese citizens allegedly involved in the fighting.
Zelensky also renewed his plea for advanced air defense systems, noting Ukraine is willing to purchase them. “Only powerful weapons can truly be relied upon to protect life when you have a neighbor like Russia,” he said, mentioning that the topic was raised in discussions with Trump.
Trump, who previously claimed he could resolve the conflict within 24 hours, reiterated his stance that the war wouldn’t have happened if he had been president when Russia invaded in 2022.
In February, US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for the first direct talks since the invasion. Despite several efforts, including a US-proposed ceasefire in the Black Sea, progress has stalled, mainly due to Russia’s insistence on lifting sanctions.
Trump’s relationship with Zelensky remains tense, marked by a heated exchange in the Oval Office earlier this year. Trump has since expressed growing frustration with Putin, saying he’s “very angry” about the lack of progress on peace efforts.
In a rare diplomatic development, a prisoner exchange was carried out earlier this week. Russian-American Ksenia Karelina, jailed for donating to a Ukrainian charity, was swapped for Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian accused of smuggling electronics to the Russian military.
