Clock ticking to secondary sanctions on Friday; majority still trust Zelenskyy but rating down after anti-corruption debacle. What we know on day 1,261
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia seemed “more inclined to a ceasefire” after a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by a US envoy. “The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US,” Ukraine’s president said in his nightly address.
Despite the engagement, sanctions targeting Russian oil “are still expected to be implemented on Friday”, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Separately, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress made during Steve Witkoff’s talks with Putin. Many “impediments” remained, especially Russia’s territorial claims, and there was no concrete proposal for a ceasefire. There have been unconfirmed reports that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides.
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week to discuss the war, White House officials have said, although senior administration officials warned that serious “impediments” remain to achieving a ceasefire. Trump has claimed “great progress was made” when Witkoff, a real estate dealer, met the Russian ruler at the Kremlin on Wednesday. Trump-Putin meetings about Ukraine have been raised as a possibility in the past but not eventuated.
