U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian officials, state media reported, as President Donald Trump’s Friday deadline for halting Russia’s offensive in Ukraine draws near.
Trump has warned that if Moscow doesn’t pull back, sweeping new sanctions could follow.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said Russian shelling killed at least two people and wounded 10 others overnight in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The White House has yet to detail its planned response, but Trump has floated the possibility of imposing "secondary tariffs” on countries still trading with Russia, including China and India – a high-stakes move that could disrupt global markets.
Trump said Tuesday he would wait for the outcome of the Moscow talks before deciding on any retaliation.
"We’re going to see what happens,” he told reporters. "We’ll make that determination at that time.”
After arriving in Moscow, Witkoff was met by presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
A U.S. official did not specify whether the meetings would include Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Witkoff has met several times previously.
The Kremlin said earlier this week it did not "exclude” the possibility of a meeting with Putin.
Despite mounting pressure from Washington, Russia has continued its campaign against its pro-Western neighbor.
Three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make progress toward a cease-fire, with the two sides appearing as far apart as ever. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede additional territory and renounce Western support.
Kyiv is calling for an immediate cease-fire, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week urged his allies to push for "regime change” in Moscow.
Nuclear rhetoric
Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Putin in recent weeks over Russia’s unrelenting offensive.
Russia launched a record number of long-range drones at Ukraine in July, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) analysis of data from Kyiv’s air force.
Russian troops have also accelerated their advance on the ground, pushing into parts of Ukraine not officially claimed by Moscow.
When reporters asked Trump on Monday what message Witkoff would deliver in Moscow, and whether there was anything Russia could do to avoid sanctions, Trump replied: "Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow considered the talks with Witkoff "important, substantial and helpful” and appreciated U.S. efforts to end the conflict.
Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a cease-fire, said last week he wants peace, but reiterated that Russia’s demands for ending the nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive remain unchanged.
Russia continues to demand that Ukraine cede control of four regions Moscow claims to have annexed, a condition Kyiv has called unacceptable.
Putin has also insisted Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO.
The visit comes after Trump revealed he had deployed two nuclear submarines following an online spat with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Trump did not clarify whether the submarines were nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed, nor did he specify their locations, which the U.S. military keeps classified.
Russia responded to the deployment for the first time on Monday, urging caution.
"Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear nonproliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric,” Peskov said.