Russian President Vladimir Putin held a high-level meeting with Steve Witkoff, a real estate magnate and current political envoy for Donald Trump, in Saint Petersburg on Friday to discuss Ukraine.
This meeting was the third visit to Russia in recent months, signaling a continued diplomatic channel between the Trump and the Kremlin concerning the war in Ukraine.
Operating as an informal special envoy for Trump, Witkoff is believed to have conveyed messages from the Trump administration stressing the urgent need to resolve what Trump has characterized as a “senseless war.”
What did Trump’s envoy discuss with Putin about Ukraine
The meeting lasted for more than four hours and focused on aspects of a solution to the conflict in Ukraine. During these discussions, President Putin is said to have outlined Russia’s primary concerns and territorial claims within Ukraine, specifically referencing the four eastern regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Moscow unilaterally annexed in 2022.
Sources familiar with the discussions indicate that Witkoff’s proposed ceasefire framework included the recognition of Russia’s control over these territories—a stance that was unthinkable before Trump won the US election in November 2024. Critics believe that any peace accord with these terms will be legitimizing Russian annexations, compromise Ukraine’s sovereignty, undermine fundamental principles of international law, and potentially giving a green light to other authoritarian regimes.
Trump, who has increasingly expressed his discontent with the United States’ financial and military support for Ukraine, has indicated his endorsement of Witkoff’s outreach while also expressing impatience with the lack of progress. “Russia has to get moving,” Trump stated at a rally on Friday. “This war is draining resources, taking lives and it needs to stop. We’ll impose further sanctions if they don’t come to the table,” Trump said.
Trump also urged Russia to do something about the war on his social media platforms, stating, “Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.”
Despite the informal nature of these talks, they show the distinct and significantly different foreign policy priorities of the Trump administration compared to Biden’s.
A significant point that draws criticism has been the exclusion of Ukrainian representation from these discussions. Ukrainian officials were not consulted prior to Witkoff’s visit and have voiced their concerns that any agreement negotiated without their direct involvement could jeopardize international solidarity for their nation.
Analysts believe that Trump is trying to portray himself as a capable negotiator in resolving the conflict—notwithstanding the contentious nature of the concessions reportedly under consideration that could very well undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.
For example, a recent comparison of a future Ukraine to postwar Berlin, as mentioned in the context of comments made by another Trump envoy, Keith Kellogg (though later clarified), has increased anxiety in Europe, bringing back to memory historical parallels with a divided Europe during the Cold War era.
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