US envoy Witkoff arrives in Russia – DW – 04/11/2025

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Axios and Russian news agencies, citing their sources and FlightRadar data, reported earlier that Witkoff had traveled to Russia and was expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Peskov said he would announce any meeting Putin had with Witkoff if time for such a meeting appeared in the Russian leader’s schedule.

Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine. According to media reports, he was angry with Putin at the end of March, saying he was “pissed off”.

At the recent NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear that Trump would not accept the Russian president’s stalling tactics for much longer.

Most recently, the US tried to broker a 30-day ceasefire during the negotiations. While Ukraine agreed to the proposal, Putin set preconditions for such a ceasefire.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 39 drones and one ballistic missile in attacks over the past day.

The air force shot down 24 drones and another 13 did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it said in a statement on social media.

It did not specify what happened to the remaining two drones or the missile.

Defense ministers from the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group, once led by the United States, are meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The meeting will be chaired by acting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his British counterpart John Healey. 

The two ministers are standing in for former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had initiated and led the so-called Ramstein Group of some 50 countries in support of Ukraine, up until the Trump administration took office in January. 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to give ministers an update on the battle situation on the front lines and outline what defense equipment his armed forces most urgently need at the moment.

Early on Friday, the British Ministry of Defense announced a £450 million (€517 million or $588 million) “surge” of military assistance to Ukraine. The military aid package will be delivered by British and Ukrainian suppliers.

Britain said a joint effort with Norway would provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukraine’s armored vehicles on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Germany plans to supply more than 1,100 ground surveillance radars and additional IRIS-T air defense missile systems to Ukraine, according to Pistorius.

Defense ministers from the so-called Ukraine Contact Group are meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

Meanwhile, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

We will follow what’s happening there as well as other events related to Russia’s war on Ukraine and diplomatic efforts to end the fighting.