Trump tells Russia to ‘get moving’ on Ukraine as Witkoff meets Putin

AFP | Moscow

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US President Donald Trump on Friday told Moscow to “get moving” on ending its “senseless war” with Ukraine, moments before his envoy Steve Witkoff began talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia on the conflict.

Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire since returning to the White House in January but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials.

The US leader told NBC News last month that he was “pissed off” with his Russian counterpart, while top US diplomat Marco Rubio warned last week that Washington would not tolerate “endless negotiations” with Russia over the conflict.

“Russia has to get moving,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the conflict -- which began more than three years ago when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine -- was “senseless” and “should have never happened”.

Shortly after Trump’s post, the Kremlin said talks between Putin and Witkoff had started. The meeting, taking place in Putin’s home city of Saint Petersburg, would touch on “various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“There is no need to expect any breakthroughs here, the process of normalising relations is ongoing,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state media.

When asked whether the two would discuss a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov was quoted as saying: “Maybe”.

Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January.

After their last meeting, Witkoff, a long-time Trump ally who worked with the US president in real estate, said Putin was a “great leader” and “not a bad guy”.

The envoy’s praise of a president long seen by the United States as an autocratic adversary highlights the dramatic turn in Washington’s approach to dealings with the Kremlin since Trump took office for a second term.

Earlier in the day, Witkoff met Russia’s top economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.

Trump has pushed for a broad rapprochement with Moscow, which has yielded some results.

On Thursday, Russia freed dual US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina from prison in exchange for suspected tech smuggler Arthur Petrov, the second exchange between Moscow and Washington in less than two months.