Trump's envoy Witkoff meets Putin for 4th time, Kremlin says there was progress

Witkoff has emerged as Washington's key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, and has already held three long meetings with the Kremlin leader.

Moscow: 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.