Trump says Russia talks made 'great progress'

Donald Trump claimed "great progress was made" in talks on ending the war in Ukraine between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin yesterday.

- Shaun Walker Kyiv Andrew Roth Washington

The three-hour talks took place 48 hours before tomorrow's deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal in the war or face fresh US sanctions.

"My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Trump wrote on social media. "Great progress was made!

Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come."

Trump gave no further details of what was discussed. Some analysts will be wary of reading too much into the comments after multiple previous claims by Trump that Putin was ready to negotiate resulted in little progress. Putin has given little indication of being ready to make concessions or willing to adjust Russia's core war aims.

However, unconfirmed reports in recent days suggested the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides as an offering to Trump. It is not yet known if the possibility was discussed during the Kremlin talks.

Yesterday evening, Trump called Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who took the call while traveling back to Kyiv from a visit to frontline areas in the north-east of the country.

After the call, Zelenskyy wrote on social media: "Our joint position is very clear: the war has to end, and it has to be a just ending.

"European leaders also took part in the call, and I am grateful to each of them for support. We discussed what had been said in Moscow. Ukraine has to defend its independence. We all need a long-lasting and reliable peace. Russia must finish the war that it started."