Trump issues new demand to Russia as his envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin

By EMILY GOODIN, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT and WIRES

Published: 16:48 BST, 11 April 2025 | Updated: 17:31 BST, 11 April 2025

President Donald Trump has a new demand for Russia as his envoy met with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.

‘Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war – A war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were President!!!,’ he wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning.

Footage from Russian news agency Tass showed Trump envoy Steve Witkoff shaking hands with Putin. Also on hand for the talks is Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, who Witkoff met with ahead of his sit down with the Russian president.

It’s Witkoff and Putin’s third meeting as Trump pushes for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump has expressed frustration with the pace of the talks and with Putin’s dragging his feet on the matter. 

He told NBC News he was ‘very angry’ with Putin after weeks of attempting to negotiate a ceasefire.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff

U.S.-Russia dialogue aimed at agreeing to a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine appears to have stalled over disagreements around the conditions for a full pause in hostilities.

Trump has spoken of imposing secondary sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil if he feels Moscow is dragging its feet on a Ukrainian deal.

Witkoff has emerged as a key figure in the on-off rapprochement between Moscow and Washington amid talk on the Russian side of potential joint investments in the Arctic and in Russian rare earth minerals.

Putin was in St Petersburg on Friday to hold what the Kremlin called an ‘extraordinarily important’ meeting about the development of the Russian Navy, which is in the throes of a major modernization and expansion drive.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down the Witkoff-Putin meeting, telling Russian state media the U.S. envoy’s visit would not be ‘momentous’ and that no breakthroughs were expected.

The sitdown comes at a time when U.S. tensions with Iran and China – two countries with which Russia has close ties – are severely strained over Tehran’s nuclear program and a burgeoning trade war with Beijing. 

Witkoff’s meeting with Putin comes as the U.S. and Russia had a prisoner exchange, which included the release of dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina. 

The release was the result of Witkoff and Putin’s meeting in March. 

A February meeting between Witkoff and Putin culminated with the U.S. envoy flying home with Marc Fogel, an American teacher Washington had said was wrongfully detained by Russia. 

Witkoff is the first senior U.S. official to meet with Putin since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with the pace of the talks

The envoy is due in Oman on Saturday for talks with Iran over its nuclear program after Trump threatened Tehran with military action if it does not agree to a deal. Moscow has repeatedly offered its help in trying to clinch a diplomatic settlement.

Putin and Trump have spoken by phone but have yet to meet face-to-face since the U.S. leader returned to the White House in January for a second four-year term. 

As Witkoff and Putin sat down in Russia, the UK and Germany chaired a gathering of Ukraine’s allies in Brussels as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

German defense minister Boris Pistorius announced a surge of military support for Ukraine after that meeting – $23.8 billion.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended virtually, as did President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and several other ministers.

‘We sending a signal to Putin, but we are also sending a message to Ukraine, and we are saying to Ukraine, we stand with you in the fight, and we will stand with you in the peace,’ said British Defense Secretary John Healey.

It was the 27th meeting of what is known as the contact group, organized initially by the United States. Washington has ceded the chairmanship of the group under the Trump administration. 

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Trump issues new demand to Russia as his envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin

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