Sawt Falasteen - Putin meets US envoy Witkoff ahead of sanctions deadline

Trump, who had boasted he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, has given Russia until Friday to make progress towards peace or face new penalties.

But three rounds of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a ceasefire, with the two sides far apart.

Russia has escalated drone and missile attacks against its pro-Western neighbour to a record high and accelerated its advance on the ground.

The Kremlin published video of Putin shaking hands with Witkoff in the Kremlin before the talks. But it provided no further details.

Ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Washington to up its pressure on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.

- Sanctions threat -

The White House has not outlined specific actions it would take against Russia, but Trump has previously threatened to impose "secondary tariffs" targeting Russia's key trade partners, such as China and India.

The move would aim to stifle Russian exports, but would risk significant international disruption.

Trump said Tuesday that he would await the outcome of the Moscow talks before moving ordering any economic retaliation.

"We're going to see what happens," he told reporters. "We'll make that determination at that time."

Without explicitly naming Trump, the Kremlin on Tuesday slammed "threats" to hike tariffs on Russia's trading parters as "illegitimate".

Russia's more than three-year campaign on Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed swathes of the country and forced millions to flee their homes.

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support if it wants the fighting to stop.

Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for "regime change" in Moscow.

"It is very important to strengthen all the levers in the arsenal of the United States, Europe, and the G7 so that a ceasefire truly comes into effect immediately. Ukraine sees the political will, appreciates the efforts of our partners, of America, and of everyone who is helping," Zelensky wrote on social media on Wednesday after Witkoff landed in the Russian capital.

- Nuclear rhetoric -

Trump has increasingly voiced frustration with Putin in recent weeks over Russia's unrelenting offensive.

Russia fired a record number of long-range drones at Ukraine in July, AFP analysis of data from Kyiv's air force showed.

Its troops have also accelerated their advance on the ground and pushed into parts of Ukraine that Russia has not claimed to have annexed.

Ukrainian officials reported Wednesday at least two people were killed and 10 others wounded in Russian night shelling of a holiday camp in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

When reporters asked Trump on Monday what Witkoff's message would be to Moscow, and if 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 it considered the talks with Witkoff to be "important, substantial and helpful" and valued US efforts to end the conflict.

The visit comes with tensions running high between Moscow and Washington.

Trump said he had deployed two nuclear submarines following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev were now "in the region."

Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.

Russia, in its first comments on the deployment, urged "caution" Monday.

Moscow then said it was ending a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles, suggesting it could deploy such weapons in response to what it alleged were similar US deployments within striking distance of Russia.

V.AbuAwwad--SF-PST