A senior Russian general has died in a car bombing in the Russian city of Balashikha on Friday, authorities say, with news of the blast breaking just before US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Witkoff is in the Russian capital for crunch talks on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine as Trump’s self-imposed deadline of ending the war within the first 100 days of his presidency nears.
The envoy was received by Putin at the Kremlin on Friday afternoon, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, adding that Witkoff has also met with senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
Dmitriev and Russian presidential aide and former ambassador to Washington, Yuri Ushakov, were part of the meeting with Putin, Tass said.
This is Witkoff’s fourth trip to Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January, and the second one this month.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was “ready to reach a deal” on ending the war in Ukraine in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, but added that there were still some specific points that needed to be “fine-tuned.”
The United States has been applying more pressure on Ukraine after threatening last week it could walk away from the talks “within days” if it becomes clear a deal cannot be reached.
The latest framework, presented by the Trump administration in Paris last week, proposed significant sacrifices from Kyiv, including US recognition of Crimea as Russian territory and Ukraine ceding large swaths of territory to Russia, according to an official familiar.
Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday called “to freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today.”
Asked what concessions Russia was offering on Thursday, Trump replied, “stopping the war,” suggesting that not “taking the whole country” is a “pretty big concession.”
CNN reported this week that Trump was getting frustrated with the stalling talks and has privately told advisers that mediating a deal has been more difficult than he anticipated.
Recognizing Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula Moscow ilegally annexed in 2014, as Russian would cross a major red line for Ukraine and its European allies, and would be in breach of established international law.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea, saying there was “nothing to talk about” as recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would be against Ukraine’s constitution.
Trump slammed Zelensky for the comments, saying they were “inflammatory” and made it “difficult to settle this war.”
Trump’s scolding of his counterpart in Kyiv came after a meeting in London aimed at bringing about an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine had been downgraded after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wouldn’t attend.