Trump said he could impose new sanctions against Russia if a truce is not reached by the end of April.

Trump's special envoy Witkoff flew to Russia again to meet with Putin

US President Donald Trump said he is considering the possibility of introducing additional sanctions against Russia if it and Ukraine do not reach a truce by the end of the month. As Axios writes , citing a source, he can either sign a corresponding decree or ask Congress to pass new sanctions laws.

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Trump is unhappy with the lack of progress on the ceasefire in Ukraine

The publication notes that Trump is dissatisfied with the lack of progress in the ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine. At the end of March, he said he was “very angry” and “furious” after Putin once again questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

At the same time, Trump said that Russia had a “psychological deadline” to conclude a peace agreement. “If I think they're dragging their feet, I won't be happy about it,” he said. The US President emphasized that he would introduce “secondary duties” in the amount of 25% to 50% for all buyers of Russian oil if the parties fail to reach an agreement “to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine.” Despite these statements, Trump soon said that he was counting on Putin and did not want to impose secondary duties “on his oil.”

Trump's special envoy Witkoff returns to Russia for talks with Putin

Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, flew to Russia for the next stage of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. His plane landed in St. Petersburg. Witkoff has already met with the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Putin's negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, and is expected to meet with Putin himself later. This will be their third meeting - the previous one took place on March 13 in Moscow. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio then called the contact between Witkoff and Putin “positive and productive” and said that, in the opinion of the United States, the parties had taken steps towards peace in Ukraine.

This time, according to Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the topics of the meeting will be “aspects of the Ukrainian settlement”, and the negotiations will last “as long as President Putin needs.”

Also last week , Witkoff hosted Dmitriev in Washington. This was the first visit by a high-ranking Russian official to the US capital since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. To do this, the United States temporarily lifted the sanctions imposed on Dmitriev in 2022 so that he could obtain a visa and enter the country.

Photo: US President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Washington, DC, USA, April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

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