Putin holds 'constructive' talks with US envoy Witkoff: Kremlin

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin held "constructive" talks with United States envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, two days ahead of a US deadline for Russia to halt its Ukraine offensive or face fresh sanctions.

Witkoff met Putin for around three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Russian state TV showed a brief clip of him shaking hands with Putin at the start of their meeting.

US President Donald Trump, increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress toward peace, has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports.

"A quite useful and constructive conversation took place," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists after the meeting.

The two sides exchanged "signals" on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, Ushakov said, but declined to give more details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump.

Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who earlier greeted Witkoff on arrival and strolled with him in a park near the Kremlin, posted on social media, "Dialogue will prevail."

There was no immediate comment from the US side.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Wednesday that a complete ceasefire and a leaders' summit were required. "The war must stop and for now this is on Russia," he posted on Telegram.

Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump's sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the conflict and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the US, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters.

"The visit of Witkoff is a last-ditch effort to find a face-saving solution for both sides," said Gerhard Mangott, an Austrian analyst and member of a group of Western academics and journalists who have met regularly with Putin over the years.

"I don't think, however, that there will be anything of a compromise between the two.

"Russia will insist it is prepared to have a ceasefire, but (only) under the conditions that it has formulated for the last two or three years already," he said in a telephone interview.

"Trump will be under pressure to do what he has announced — to raise tariffs for all the countries buying oil and gas, and uranium probably as well, from Russia."

Zelensky said on Tuesday he had a "productive" conversation with Trump on ending the conflict, sanctions on Russia and the finalization of a US-Ukraine drone deal.

On the ground, Russian forces have captured the village of Sichneve in Ukraine's east-central Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Wednesday that Russian strikes killed two people and wounded 10 others, including four children.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA