U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, on the day he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. Nearing the tone-setting 100th day of his second administration at the end of April, U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Russia and Ukraine to end their three-year conflict at the steep price of territorial concession. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, a former real estate mogul turned Kremlin whisperer, arrived in Moscow on Friday.

Footage carried by Russian state news agency Tass showed he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin — whom he has encountered thrice prior — at a fragile time in the Moscow-Washington relations that have only thawed since Trump's January return to the White House. The Kremlin has so far approached U.S.-sponsored Ukraine peace negotiations — which resulted in a partial, ill observed ceasefire on energy infrastructure last month — with amiable intractability, avoiding ire that Trump has largely directed at Ukraine's leadership for its hesitations throughout the talks and its insistence over explicit security guarantees. The Washington leader has repeatedly called out his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for overestimating his leverage in both the conflict and the discussions, as well as — earlier this week — disregarding the possibility of renouncing Crimea.

But intensifying Russian attacks against Kyiv earlier this week following a lull over the Easter holiday led Trump to take a rare shot against Putin on Thursday. "I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV," Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform. "Not necessary, and very bad timing," the White House leader added.

"Vladimir, STOP!" "I didn't like last night, I wasn't happy with it," Trump said in a separate press briefing. "We're putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that."