Trump says Putin made progress, but new U.S. sanctions still set for Aug. 8 deadline

Analyzing the visit of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow on Aug. 6, NYT noted that Trump described Witkoff’s meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on social media as “productive” and said “major progress” had been achieved. However, just hours after the meeting, Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on imports from India over its purchases of Russian oil. He also instructed his team to determine whether other countries are importing Russian oil, the outlet said.

The report also stressed that Witkoff’s Aug. 6 visit to Moscow was already his fifth this year. While his previous meetings with Putin had received the Kremlin’s approval, NYT noted, they produced no breakthroughs toward ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Still, the article said this latest trip carried particular weight, as it came just days before a deadline Trump gave Putin to make peace.

According to NYT, Witkoff’s previous visits involved hours-long talks with Putin, giving him rare access to the Russian leader, who has avoided meetings with most Western officials and seldom grants audiences to foreign non-heads of state since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Those meetings helped secure a prisoner swap that freed two Americans held in Russia and paved the way for subsequent phone calls between Trump and Putin. However, NYT emphasized that none of those conversations yielded any clear signs of progress toward peace in Ukraine.

On July 29, Trump said the Russian dictator had 10 days — until Aug. 8 — to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine or face additional U.S. sanctions against Moscow, including secondary restrictions targeting countries that buy Russian oil.

On Aug. 1, Trump reiterated that the U.S. would impose sanctions if Russia refused to end the war by the Aug. 8 deadline. He also quipped that Putin “knows sanctions pretty well” and understands how to evade them.

The U.S. president had also said he would decide how to act on his ultimatum after Witkoff returned from Moscow.

On Aug. 5, the Financial Times reported that Trump would be “furious” if Witkoff came back empty-handed.

On Aug. 6, Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow. Their conversation reportedly lasted about three hours.

That same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with Trump. European leaders also joined the conversation. According to Zelenskyy, the joint position of Ukraine and its partners was unequivocal: the war must end.