MOSCOW, April 25, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir 
Putin in the Kremlin on Friday to tout Washington's plan to settle the 
Ukraine conflict, a day after Donald Trump issued a direct appeal to the 
Russian president to halt his offensive.

Trump has been trying to broker a truce between Moscow and Kyiv to end three 
years of fighting, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the 
Kremlin despite several rounds of negotiation.

Russia launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine in 2022, hoping to take 
the country in days, but has since become embroiled in a huge, bloody 
conflict that has killed tens of thousands.

Video published by Russian state media showed Witkoff meeting Putin at the 
Kremlin, with the two smiling, shaking hands and exchanging a few words in 
English before beginning talks.

The billionaire real estate investor is playing a key role in Washington's 
peace efforts and had already met Putin on three previous occasions since 
Trump returned to the White House in January.

Trump has threatened to walk away from talks if he does not see progress 
towards a ceasefire.

On Thursday, after Russian attacks on Kyiv killed 12 people, Trump wrote on 
social media: "Vladimir, STOP!", adding "Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!"

When asked how he would respond if Russia did not accept a deal, Trump said 
Thursday: "I won't be happy, let me put it that way. Things will happen."

Russia, which has warned against rushing into a peace settlement, said 
Thursday it was "ready to reach a deal" but needed certain issues addressed 
first.

"There are still some specific points... which need to be fine-tuned, and we 
are busy with this," its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told CBS News.

- 'Pressure' -

The United States has not revealed the details of its peace plan, but has 
suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea -- 
a peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014 -- in exchange for peace.

Trump was quoted as saying in a TIME magazine interview published on Friday: 
"Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that."

Ukraine has rejected ceding ground to Moscow, and says it will not accept 
Russian control of Crimea.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent months accepted that 
he might have to try to secure the return of some land captured by Russia 
through diplomacy once a ceasefire is in place.

Zelensky has expressed frustration at a lack of "pressure" on Putin from the 
West, despite the United States warning of repercussions if Moscow refused a 
deal.

On Friday, he said that a North Korean-supplied missile fired by Russia on 
Kyiv the day before contained dozens of components from US firms.

"Any country that becomes a victim of aggression is never defending itself 
against a single entity, but against a group of accomplices," he said.

- 'Five territories' -

Putin last month rejected a US proposal of a full and unconditional ceasefire 
that Zelensky has accepted and repeatedly called for since.

Trump, who has been accused of favouring Russia and has repeatedly vilified 
Zelensky, said Thursday that the main concession Russia would make in any 
peace deal was "stopping taking the whole country".

Moscow currently occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine and in addition to 
Crimea has attempted to annex four other Ukrainian regions.

Witkoff told Fox News earlier this month that a peace settlement hinged on 
the status of the "so-called five territories" -- a comment that drew a sharp 
rebuke from Zelensky, who accused the US envoy of "spreading Russian 
narratives".

As Witkoff arrived in Russia on Friday, authorities there reported a senior 
general had been killed in a car bombing outside Moscow.

Kyiv did not claim responsibility for the attack, though it bore the 
hallmarks of previous assassinations on Russian soil that Ukraine said it was 
behind.

Russia also fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine between late Thursday and 
early Friday, the Ukrainian army said.

A Russian drone strike killed at least three people including a child in the 
central Ukrainian city of Pavlograd, rescuers said.