US President Donald Trump has warned that he would impose sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire.
Published On 6 Aug 2025
United States President Donald Trump has said that his special envoy Steve Witkoff held a “highly productive meeting” with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face punitive economic sanctions.
“Great progress was made!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, adding that he had briefed some European allies afterwards.
“Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” he wrote.
Witkoff met Putin for about three hours earlier in the day in an attempt to seek a breakthrough in the more than three-year war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides had exchanged “signals” on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details.
Russian presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev, who earlier greeted Witkoff and walked with him in a park, posted on social media: “Dialogue will prevail.”
A White House official who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on the condition of anonymity said the meeting had gone well and that Russia was eager to continue engaging with the US. But the official also said the US is still expected to impose secondary sanctions against Russia on Friday, after a 10-day deadline imposed by Trump expires.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump released an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on goods from India, for importing Russian oil. The announcement stated that the “actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
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