The meeting between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday was “constructive and useful,” the Kremlin said, according to Russian state media TASS.
The meeting took place amid the backdrop of a looming sanctions deadline threatened by US President Donald Trump if Russia does not agree to a peace deal with Ukraine.
Witkoff and Putin discussed Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing the Kremlin.
“Putin conveyed some signals to the United States on the Ukrainian issue. Corresponding signals were also received from President Trump,” RIA said in a post on social media, adding that the Kremlin said it will release more information on what was discussed after Witkoff reports back to Trump.
The meeting lasted about three hours, state media reported, citing the Russian presidential press service.
Earlier in the day, the US envoy was greeted at the airport in Moscow by Russia’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Video later posted by the Kremlin showed Witkoff shaking hands with Putin ahead of their meeting.
Trump has grown increasingly impatient with Russia’s resistance to his peace efforts. Since the last meeting between Witkoff and Putin in April, Russia has ramped up its assault on Ukraine, attacking cities with an onslaught of missiles and drones.
Trump has called Russia’s attacks “disgusting” and has accused Putin of peddling “bullsh*t” in their tense phone conversations.
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Trump said that he would wait for the outcome of the talks to decide whether or not to impose new sanctions on Russia.
“We’re going to see what happens,” the president said at the White House. “We’ll make that determination at that time.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
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