Trump’s Envoy Witkoff Meets Putin for 4th Time, Kremlin Says There Was Progress

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with US President Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) before a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 25 April 2025. (EPA/Kristina Kormilitsyna / Sputnik / Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with US President Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) before a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 25 April 2025. (EPA/Kristina Kormilitsyna / Sputnik / Kremlin)
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Trump’s Envoy Witkoff Meets Putin for 4th Time, Kremlin Says There Was Progress

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with US President Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) before a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 25 April 2025. (EPA/Kristina Kormilitsyna / Sputnik / Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with US President Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) before a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 25 April 2025. (EPA/Kristina Kormilitsyna / Sputnik / Kremlin)

US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow on Friday to discuss the US plan to end the Ukraine war, and the Kremlin said the two sides' positions had moved closer.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who took part in the meeting, described it as constructive and very useful.

"This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues," he told reporters.

"As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine."

Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which started in February 2022.

There was no immediate comment from Witkoff on the outcome of the meeting.

Witkoff has emerged as Washington's key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, now well into its fourth year, and has already had three long meetings with the Kremlin leader.

His latest trip follows talks this week at which Ukrainian and European officials pushed back against some of the US proposals for how to settle the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.



Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Pope Leo Appeals for Israel to Allow Humanitarian Aid in Gaza 

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave "yet more worrying and saddening".

"I renew my fervent appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the devastating price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the leader of the Catholic Church on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis. He has mentioned the situation in Gaza several times in the first weeks of his papacy.

In his first Sunday message on May 11, the new pope called for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israel said on Monday that it would allow aid to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade on the enclave, but the United Nations said no help had been distributed as of Tuesday.

Leo's appeal comes a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government had paused free trade talks with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK over the situation in Gaza.

Israel says it plans to intensify military operations against Hamas and to control the whole of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli air and ground war since Hamas' cross-border attack on Israeli communities in October 2023.

Israel has said its blockade is aimed in part at preventing Palestinian gunmen from diverting and seizing aid supplies. Hamas has denied doing so.