- US leader threatens sanctions on buyers of Russian exports.
- Washington-Moscow talks end after several hours.
- Putin aide says ‘signals’ were exchanged.
President Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the US maintained plans to impose secondary sanctions on Friday in an effort to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since World War Two by invading Ukraine.
Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other.
The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intends to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskiy.
“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, responding to the report.
A Trump-Putin meeting could take place as soon as next week, the White House official said.
A German government spokesperson said Trump provided information about the status of the talks with Russia during a call with the German chancellor and other European heads of government.
The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump said had achieved “great progress.”
It comes two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil.
The White House official said that while the meeting had gone well and Moscow was eager to continue engaging with the United States, secondary sanctions that Trump has threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday. No details were provided.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox Business’s “Kudlow” later on Wednesday that more had to be done to reach an agreement between the parties.
“Today was a good day, but we got a lot of work ahead,” he said. “There’s still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours.”
A Kremlin aide earlier said Witkoff held “useful and constructive” talks with Putin on Wednesday. The two met for around three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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 until Witkoff had reported back to Trump.
Zelenskiy said he believed pressure had worked on Russia and Moscow was now more amenable to a ceasefire.
“It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address.
Writing separately on the X social media platform, Zelenskiy said he had discussed Witkoff’s visit to Russia with Trump, adding that he had reiterated Ukraine’s support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself.
“Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started,” Zelenskiy said, adding that European leaders had joined the call with Trump.
Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington’s European allies following Witkoff’s meeting.
Pressure on India
Trump took a key step toward punitive measures on Wednesday when he imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil. No similar order was signed for China, which also imports Russian oil.
The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any US trading partner.
The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal.
Ushakov, who was present at the meeting, told Russian news outlet Zvezda that “signals” on Ukraine were exchanged by both sides.
Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on airstrikes by Russia and Ukraine – an idea mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin.
Such a move, if agreed, would fall well short of the full and immediate ceasefire that Ukraine and the US have been seeking for months. But it would offer some relief to both sides.
Air attacks
Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks “disgusting.”
Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday that a full ceasefire and a leaders’ summit were required. “The war must stop and for now this is on Russia,” he posted on Telegram.
Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump’s sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war, and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the US, three sources close to the Kremlin have told Reuters.
The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was sceptical that yet more US sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war.