US Envoy Witkoff leaves Moscow without cease-fire agreement after Putin rejects Trump’s 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.”

Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff left Moscow on Friday without a cease-fire deal in hand POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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 Putin demanded Thursday that 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 on Thursday said it would be a “very disappointing moment for the world” if Putin did not agree to his cease-fire proposal.

The president told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he demanded Putin let Ukrainian troops in Kursk leave peacefully. Getty Images

“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 negotiations to end the war.”

Moscow has a new chance to prove to Trump its appetite for peace Friday after the president signaled some of his intents to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade.

“At this very moment thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are being encircled in Kursk. He strongly told Vladimir Putin directly that he wants their lives spared,” Kilmeade said of Trump’s message to him on Fox & Friends.

The Post first reported on March 7 that Ukraine would likely pull its forces from the Russian territory within two weeks.