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Editor's note: The story was expanded with a comment by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, traveled to Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 11, Axios reported, citing its source and FlightRadar data.
This would mark the third meeting between Putin and Witkoff, who has taken the lead in Trump's efforts to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
The trip comes a week after Putin's envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, met Witkoff and other U.S. officials in Washington and expressed "cautious optimism" about the renewed diplomatic engagement between the U.S. and Russia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed later on April 11 that Witkoff had arrived in Russia, state-owned news agency TASS reported. He added that the Kremlin will announce whether the U.S. envoy is scheduled to meet Putin.
Trump's push for a ceasefire has stalled as Moscow rejected a full 30-day truce backed by Washington and Kyiv and has repeatedly violated the energy ceasefire agreed upon on March 25.
These developments led to the U.S. president adopting increasingly harsh rhetoric toward Putin, saying he was "pissed off" and "very angry" at the Russian leader over his attacks on President Volodymyr Zelensky's credibility and stalled peace talks.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened additional sanctions and tariffs against Russia unless it comes to the negotiating table and scales down attacks on Ukraine but is yet to take the step.
The U.S. also took a tough stance on Ukraine, briefly pausing all military and intelligence assistance in March and pressing Kyiv to sign different versions of an exploitative deal to hand Washington revenue from Ukraine's mineral wealth.
U.S. and Russian officials met in Istanbul on April 10 for the second round of talks about embassy operations, with Ukraine reportedly not being on the agenda. The same day, the two countries carried out a prisoner exchange, with Russia releasing U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina in exchange for German-Russian citizen Artur Petrov.
The two sides also led two rounds of discussions on peace in Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
