President Donald Trump signaled “great progress” in talks with Russia after Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held an eleventh-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, amid Trump’s looming Friday ceasefire ultimatum.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social. “Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s positive readout comes after a more noncommittal statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Wednesday. Speaking with reporters in Washington, Rubio said that he had talked with Witkoff after the meeting but remained vague on the prospects of a deal with the Kremlin ahead of Friday’s deadline.
“We’ll have some other discussions throughout the day, and then hopefully there’ll be some announcements here fairly soon — maybe positive, maybe not,” Rubio said.
Trump’s optimistic messaging was also tempered by his earlier declaration that he had signed an executive order slamming India with an additional 25 percent tariff over its Russian oil purchases, bringing the country’s total tariff rate to 50 percent.
The move, which Trump announced hours before providing a readout of Witkoff’s meeting, signals Trump’s commitment to following through on his threats to use tariffs as leverage to force a Russia-Ukraine deal. Trump had repeatedly threatened to hit India with higher tariffs as punishment for its continued purchases of Russian oil.
And if the Kremlin fails to meet Friday’s ceasefire deadline, Trump has threatened to slam the country with an aggressive sanctions scheme, though his repeated threats have yet to prompt movement from Putin.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described Wednesday’s talks as constructive, according to Russian state media, saying both sides exchanged “signals” in discussion on the war. Ushakov also said that Putin and Witkoff discussed possible avenues for strategic development between the U.S. and Russia, but did not provide further detail.
Wednesday’s meeting comes as Trump has increasingly shown frustration with the Russian leader, in whom he has demonstrated an open distrust in recent weeks as the Kremlin has refused to engage in serious negotiations to end the yearslong war.
After initially granting Russia a 50-day window to come to a truce agreement with Ukraine in July, Trump last week shortened the timeline to Aug. 8, citing frustrations with his Russian counterpart’s unwillingness to cooperate.
The meeting also comes just a day after Trump held a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which the Ukrainian leader described as “productive” in a readout posted to his social media. According to Zelenskyy, the two leaders discussed ending the war, sanctioning Russia and finalizing a U.S.-Ukraine draft agreement on drones.
Trump’s approach to the war has shifted drastically during the first half-year of his second term. After repeatedly lauding Putin while publicly bashing Zelenskyy and briefly halting military aid to the besieged Ukraine, Trump changed course in recent weeks, slamming Putin for dragging his heels in the peace negotiations and saying he is “disappointed” in the Russian leader.
