Ukraine war: US envoy Steve Witkoff arrives in St Petersburg for talks with Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump’s top negotiator has wrapped up a four-hour talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin about an end to the ‘senseless war’ with Ukraine.
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US President Donald Trump on Friday told Moscow to “get moving” on ending its “senseless war” with Ukraine, moments before his envoy Steve Witkoff began talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia on the conflict.
Mr Witkoff, who worked with Mr Trump in real estate, wrapped up his latest talks with the Russian leader which officials say lasted four hours.
Mr Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire since returning to the White House in January but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite repeated negotiations between Russian and US officials.
The US leader told NBC News last month that he was “pissed off” with his Russian counterpart, while top US diplomat Marco Rubio warned last week that Washington would not tolerate “endless negotiations” with Russia over the conflict.
“Russia has to get moving,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the conflict – which began more than three years ago when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine – was “senseless” and “should have never happened”.
Shortly after Trump’s post, the Kremlin said talks between Putin and Mr Witkoff had started. The meeting, which took place in Putin’s home city of Saint Petersburg, touched on “various aspects of the Ukrainian settlement”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“There is no need to expect any breakthroughs here, the process of normalising relations is ongoing,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state media.
When asked whether the two would discuss a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Peskov was quoted as saying: “Maybe”.
Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January.
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PRINCE HARRY’S SURPRISE VISIT TO UKRAINE
Prince Harry made a surprise visit to Ukraine, becoming the second British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The 40-year-old prince spent time with war casualties in Lviv in western Ukraine on Thursday, a spokesperson said.
The trip was only announced after Harry, a former British Army captain, had left the conflict-torn nation.
King Charles III’s younger son visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic that treats and helps rehabilitate wounded military personnel and civilians.
He was accompanied by members of his Invictus Games Foundation, a multi-sport event he founded in 2014 for injured serving and former soldiers.
Harry also met Ukraine’s minister of veterans affairs Natalia Kalmykova.
He made the trip to Lviv after sitting in a London court on Tuesday and Wednesday for his appeal against a government decision to scale back his police protection when he visits Britain.
The downgrade came after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle quit frontline royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States. The prince wants the security reinstated.
His aunt, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh – who is married to Charles’s youngest brother, Prince Edward – visited Kyiv in April last year.
Last month, Charles welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to his country estate at Sandringham in eastern England just days after the Ukrainian president received a White House dressing down by US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance.
Towards the his visit to the Superhumans Center in Lviv, Ukraine, Prince Harry joined the surgical team in the operating theater where he observed a live surgery, gaining direct insight into the complex procedures that are playing a vital role in the recovery of patients. pic.twitter.com/HExKZbsIty
— Zandi Sussex (@ZandiSussex) April 10, 2025
US BALLERINA FREED IN RUSSIAN PRISONER EXCHANGE
The United States has exchanged a sanctions-busting suspect for a ballet dancer held by Russia, the second swap under President Donald Trump as Moscow and Washington push to rebuild ties.
Moscow released a Los Angeles-based ballet dancer convicted in Russia of “treason” and sentenced to 12 years in prison over a one-time donation worth around A$80 to a pro-Ukraine charity.
Ksenia Karelina holds dual US-Russian nationality.
She was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in January 2024 while on a trip to visit her family.
Washington released Arthur Petrov, a Russian-German national accused of illegally exporting US-made electronics to manufacturers supplying the Russian military.
The exchange took place at an airport in Abu Dhabi, where a dozen people wearing suits were present, video posted by Russia’s FSB security service showed.
Еще видео от ФСБ про обмен заключенными между РоÑÑией и СШР– на нем Ðртур Петров заÑвлÑет, что жалоб на здоровье у него нет pic.twitter.com/sYkmN7E126
— Третий Ученик Штирлица (@TStirlica89368) April 10, 2025
Mr Trump has sought to reset ties with Moscow since taking office, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago plunged bilateral relations to their lowest point since the Cold War.
“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media platform X.
“She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year.”
Mr Trump will “continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” Rubio added.
The FSB video showed Petrov seated on a plane after he was freed, telling an unseen interviewer that he had not slept for two days but otherwise had no complaints.
Petrov, arrested in Cyprus in 2023 and extradited to the United States, was facing 20 years in a US jail for violating export controls.
RUSSIA CONDEMNS US TARIFFS ON CHINA
Russia said that US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs showed his disregard for the foundations of international trade, as Moscow raised concerns about a global trade war.
Mr Trump’s punishing tariffs on dozens of economies took effect Wednesday, including over 100 per cent on China, as Beijing vowed “forceful” action in an intensifying trade war that sparked fresh panic on the markets.
Russia has deepened economic and political ties to China since launching its offensive on Ukraine three years ago but is also pushing a rapprochement with Washington and hopes to have Western sanctions lifted.
The imposition of tariffs violates fundamental World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and “demonstrates that Washington no longer considers itself bound by the norms of international trade law,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at a televised briefing in Moscow.
Moscow has been cautious in its criticism of Trump’s policies since he returned to the White House in January, hoping it can convince him to get behind a Ukraine peace deal that benefits Russia.
But officials have in recent days expressed some concern over sliding oil prices – crucial for Moscow’s public finances – since Trump launched his tariff blitz.
CHINA RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS ITS CITIZENS ARE FIGHTING WITH RUSSIA
China urged its citizens to avoid conflict zones and participating in wars, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops had captured two Chinese citizens fighting with Russia.
“The Chinese side is verifying relevant information with the Ukrainian side,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
“The Chinese government has always asked its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict (and) avoid involvement in armed conflicts in any form.” Mr Zelensky told reporters that Ukrainian troops had captured the two Chinese citizens fighting with Russian forces in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
The prisoners were likely Chinese citizens who were enticed into signing a contract with the Russian army, rather than being sent by Beijing.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the allegations.
“I have no way of commenting on this issue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including journalists from AFP, on Wednesday local time (Thursday AEST).
‘CHINESE FIGHTING IN RUSSIAN ARMY’: ZELENSKY
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian troops had captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces, adding that Kyiv would demand an explanation from Beijing and a reaction from its allies.
Moscow and Beijing have in recent years boasted of their “no limits” partnership and deepened political, military and economic co-operation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“Our military captured two Chinese citizens who fought in the Russian army. This happened on the territory of Ukraine – in the Donetsk region,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media.
“We have the documents of these prisoners, bank cards, and personal data,” he said in a post that included a video of one of the alleged Chinese prisoners.
China presents itself as a neutral party in the conflict and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.
But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s invasion, which it has never condemned.
The United States said it was alarmed, saying it showed Beijing’s level of support for Russia.
“It’s disturbing with the Chinese soldiers having been captured,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine. China provides nearly 80 per cent of the dual use items Russia needs to sustain the war,” she said.
“Continued co-operation between these two nuclear powers will only further contribute to global instability and make the United States and other countries less safe, less secure and less prosperous,” she said.
VATICAN’S INCREDIBLE GIFT FOR UKRAINE
Pope Francis is donating four ambulances to Ukraine to be used on the front lines of the war with Russia, the Vatican said.
Since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022, the pope has donated three ambulances, a hospital van and ultrasound machines for hospitals targeted by military strikes, as well as generators, food and medicine.
The ambulances will carry the coat of arms of the Vatican.
“In this time of Easter rebirth, the pope wanted to make a gesture of closeness in one of the most painful places where the war has been raging for three years, the martyred Ukraine,” read the Vatican statement.
Francis, 88, has been convalescing at the Vatican since being released from a Rome hospital on March 23 following five weeks of treatment for pneumonia.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Ukraine war: US envoy Steve Witkoff arrives in St Petersburg for talks with Vladimir Putin