US Envoy Witkoff leaves Moscow without cease-fire agreement after Putin rejects Trumps terms: A lot still needs to be done
WASHINGTON — Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff left Moscow on Friday without a cease-fire deal in hand after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected President Trump’s terms to begin winding down the war with Ukraine.Putin met with Witkoff late Thursday night after having kept Witkoff waiting since roughly 12:30 p.m., according to flight tracking data and Russian reports, but ultimately sent him home with “signals” for Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters.“A lot still needs to be done,” Peskov said of the cease-fire agreement, noting that Witkoff “presented additional information to the Russian side.” Trump’s proposal was straightforward: Russia and Ukraine would halt all conflict for 30 days and conduct a prisoner exchange as signs of both parties’ commitments to finding a peaceful resolution.The US would also restart sharing intelligence with and delivering aid to Kyiv.But on Thursday, Putin demanded additional measures — a halt to the aid and intelligence-sharing, as well as forcing Ukraine not to train, reinforce or resupply its forces during the cease-fire — during remarks to the press on Thursday.Trump had responded Thursday it would be a “very disappointing moment for the world” if Putin did not agree to his cease-fire proposal.“Putin’s attempts to introduce a new ceasefire agreement on terms that asymmetrically benefit Russia ignore Trump’s stated intention that the ceasefire set conditions for negotiations toward a more comprehensive peace agreement in the future,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.“An agreement along the lines Putin appears to be offering would undermine the Trump administration’s stated objective of bringing about a sustainable peace in Ukraine, would reinforce Putin’s belief that Russia can militarily defeat Ukraine, and would incentivize Putin to resume military operations against Ukraine rather than making any concessions in formal negotiat...