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US President Donald Trump’s special envoy arrived in Moscow, according to the Interfax news service, as Washington intensifies its push for a deal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Steve Witkoff landed at the city’s Vnukovo airport on Friday morning, the news agency reported, citing a person it didn’t identify. Witkoff is set to raise with Russian President Vladimir Putin a US demand that Ukraine have the right to develop its own army and defense industry as part of any peace agreement, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
The Kremlin hasn’t confirmed Putin will meet with Witkoff though it said earlier this week that officials expected the envoy to visit Moscow. Trump, who’s rushing to end the war as he approaches the first 100 days of his presidency, ramped up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday to accept a peace deal that critics fear will favor Moscow. Witkoff’s meeting with Putin would be his fourth as the US works to achieve a ceasefire.
Agreeing to let Kyiv maintain its armed forces, as demanded by Ukraine and its European allies, would mean Putin would have to give up on his demand for the “demilitarization” of the country, one of his main stated aims in the war that’s now in its fourth year. Other US proposals for a deal have tilted far more in Moscow’s favor, including Washington’s recognition of Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea and freezing the war largely along existing battle lines that would leave Putin in control of swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine, Bloomberg earlier reported. Kyiv would also be required to abandon its goal of joining the NATO defense alliance.
The international community has resisted recognizing the Crimean peninsula as Russian to avoid legitimizing Putin’s illegal annexation. Zelenskiy has repeatedly said he won’t cede territory to Moscow. Trump said Thursday that he’s putting “a lot of pressure on both” sides in the war.
He said he thought Putin “wants to make a deal. We’re going to find out very soon.” Asked what concessions Russia has offered, Trump said, “Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country — pretty big concession.
” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in an interview with CBS News, said there were “several signs that we are moving in the right direction” toward a deal — while adding that Moscow still saw issues that needed to be negotiated. Russia has continued to bomb Ukrainian cities even as talks have continued. It carried out the biggest airstrike of the year against Ukraine earlier this week, targeting Kyiv and killing at least 12 people.
Trump criticized Putin for the latest round of attacks on Ukraine, while Zelenskiy has called for an “unconditional ceasefire” to facilitate talks. Trump and other US officials have warned that they will walk away from the negotiations if a deal isn’t reached soon. Witkoff is due in the Omani capital, Muscat, on Saturday for a third round of mediated talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
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