Trump envoy Witkoff visits Russia for talks with Putin - media
US President Trump's diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff arrived Russia for a possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to a source and FlightRadar data.
This will be the third meeting between Witkoff and Putin as Trump pushes for a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine, News.Az reports, citing Axios.
Last week, Witkoff hosted Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington in an effort to break the logjam.
While Ukraine agreed to Trump's proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and subsequently agreed to plans for a smaller-scale maritime ceasefire, Russia made a series of new demands, including the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.
"We are making progress. We hope that we are getting relatively close to getting a deal between Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting," Trump said on Thursday during a Cabinet meeting.
The U.S. and Russia implemented a prisoner exchange deal on Thursday that included the release of dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina.
The negotiations on the deal were a result of a previous meeting between Witkoff and Putin in March.
Trump said he appreciated Putin's decision to release Karelina. He mentioned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White told him she is the girlfriend of a UFC fighter and asked him to help in releasing her.
U.S. and Russian diplomats met again on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the normalization of relations between the countries.
A State Department spokesperson did not immediatel respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening about Witkoff's trip.
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