US president has given Russia until Friday to halt its offensive in Ukraine or face new penalties
The White House was racing to beat another self-imposed deadline to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine, with US President Donald Trump leaning hard on his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to get Moscow to halt the fighting.
Witkoff arrived in the Russian capital for talks with officials on Wednesday, just two days before an August 8 deadline Trump set for Russia to reach a truce or face potential sanctions.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would not abandon his campaign in Ukraine, people familiar with the situation said the Kremlin might offer the US concessions that could include halting air strikes in a bid to avert new economic penalties.
Witkoff’s visit follows an apparent shift in Trump’s approach to the war, which initially saw him focus his pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky only to increasingly express frustration with Putin in recent weeks.
