Former US President Donald Trump has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “get moving” on securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, as his envoy Steve Witkoff met the Russian leader for over four hours in St Petersburg on Friday.
The meeting — Witkoff’s third with Putin this year — focused on “aspects of a Ukrainian settlement,” according to the Kremlin. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the talks as “productive,” but added that no breakthroughs should be expected yet. “The process of normalising relations is ongoing,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Trump, expressing frustration at the slow pace of diplomacy, posted on social media: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.”
The president has long claimed he could end the war within 24 hours, insisting the conflict would not have happened had he been in office when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, found himself in the spotlight after The Times reported he suggested partitioning Ukraine as part of a peace deal. The article quoted Kellogg as saying British and French troops could occupy the west, while Russian forces remain in the east — likening it to post-World War II Berlin.
Kellogg swiftly denied the claim, writing on X: “I was NOT referring to a partitioning of Ukraine… I was speaking of a post-ceasefire resiliency force in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also weighed in on the conflict during a visit to Kryvyi Rih, where a Russian missile attack on April 4 killed 19 civilians, including nine children. Zelensky accused the Kremlin of prolonging the war and alleged that several hundred Chinese nationals were fighting alongside Russian troops.
“This means Russia is clearly trying to prolong the war even by using Chinese lives,” Zelensky said.
He again called on Western allies for more air defence systems and said Ukraine is ready to purchase additional systems. “Only powerful weapons can truly be relied upon to protect life when you have a neighbour like Russia,” he wrote.
The geopolitical tensions continue even as diplomatic engagements resume. US and Russian officials held face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, and there have been efforts to restore full diplomatic relations.
Just this week, both countries conducted a rare prisoner swap. Russian-American Ksenia Karelina, jailed for donating to a Ukrainian charity, was freed and exchanged for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen accused of exporting microelectronics to Russia’s military.
Despite these developments, officials in Europe remain pessimistic about the war’s end. European defence ministers on Friday pledged €21 billion ($24 billion) in new military aid to Kyiv, noting no signs of de-escalation.
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