Trump tells Russia to ‘get moving’ on Ukraine, as US envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday in St Petersburg about the search for a peace deal on Ukraine as Trump told Russia to “get moving”.

Putin was shown on state television greeting Witkoff in St Petersburg’s presidential library at the start of the negotiations and state news agencies later said the talks lasted more than four hours.

“The theme of the meeting – aspects of a Ukrainian settlement,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the meeting concluded.

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.

The Izvestia news outlet earlier released video of Witkoff leaving a hotel in the city, accompanied by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy. Dmitriev called the talks on Friday productive, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

However, the talks come at a time when US-Russia dialogue aimed at agreeing on a ceasefire ahead of a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine appears to have stalled over disagreements around conditions for a full pause in hostilities.