Putin met with Witkoff. Trump: Very fruitful meeting, great progress

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the meeting between his envoy and Vladimir Putin was very productive and resulted in significant progress. The president pledged to continue working to end the war in Ukraine.

"My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a very productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tremendous progress has been made! I then updated our European allies. Everyone agrees this war must end, and we will be working to do so in the coming days and weeks," Trump wrote on his Truth Social website.

Trump has not yet specified what progress has been made.

Meanwhile, according to a White House official cited by Reuters, despite Witkoff's positive conversation with Putin, Trump still intends to impose secondary sanctions on countries and companies purchasing Russian raw materials on Friday. Friday marks the expiration of the 10-day ultimatum the US president gave the Russian leader to end the fighting in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, after Witkoff's meeting in the Kremlin, Trump signed an order doubling the 25 percent tariff on goods from India because it buys Russian oil and resells it for profit on the open market.

A White House statement said the move was intended to "put pressure on the Russian Federation to find a solution that will end the conflict and save lives."

Among the European leaders to whom Trump briefed the results of the Moscow meeting was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear – the war must end. And it must be done honestly. European leaders were present at the meeting, and I am grateful to each of them for their support. We discussed what was agreed in Moscow," the Ukrainian president wrote.

Wednesday's meeting between US Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian leader Vladimir Putin was useful and constructive, Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said, as quoted by Reuters.

Ushakov said the meeting lasted about three hours and included discussions on ending the war in Ukraine and improving U.S.-Russian relations. He added that the sides "exchanged signals" on Ukraine and discussed the possibility of strategic cooperation between Russia and the U.S. He did not provide details.

Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian President's business advisor, also participated in the talks. He had earlier welcomed Witkoff at Moscow Airport. On Platform X, he described Witkoff's visit as successful and wrote that "constructive Russian-American dialogue continues and is crucial for global security and peace."

The talks between the Russian leader and the American envoy took place two days before the expiration of an ultimatum issued by US President Donald Trump. On July 29, Trump announced that he would impose new sanctions on Russia in 10 days if Moscow did not take steps to conclude an agreement to end the war. The ultimatum expires on Friday.

Russia is the world's third largest exporter of crude oil, second only to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The war must end, and its ending must be fair, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday after a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump. He revealed that European leaders also participated in the conversation.

"Our common position with our partners is absolutely clear: the war must end. And it must be a fair and just ending. European leaders also participated in the conversation, and I am grateful to each of them for their support. We discussed what was presented in Moscow," Zelensky said on Wednesday evening.

He expressed confidence that his country would defend its independence, and that the world needed a long-term and stable peace. "Russia must end the war it started. Thank you to everyone who supports Ukraine," he wrote on social media.

Zelensky spoke with Trump while returning to Kyiv from a visit to military brigades in the Sumy region.

Earlier, Trump described Wednesday's meeting in Moscow between his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Vladimir Putin as very productive and yielding significant progress. The president pledged to continue working to end the war in Ukraine. Friday marks the end of a 10-day ultimatum Trump gave the Russian leader to end the fighting.

From Kiev Jarosław Junko (PAP)

From Washington, Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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