Besides Putin, the meeting was attended by Yury Ushakov, an adviser to the Russian president, and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special representative of the president for foreign investment, Russian state media reported.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the start of the meeting was "businesslike".

He also said a phone call between Putin and Trump after the meeting was "theoretically possible."

Earlier in the day, Witkoff arrived in Russia and met with Dmitriev.

The White House confirmed Witkoff's visit, saying he went to Russia "to communicate directly with the Kremlin and with Vladimir Putin." He further described his trip as "another step in the negotiation process toward a ceasefire and a final peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine."

"As these negotiations continue, obviously, I'm not going to get ahead of the president or his team, but I think the president has made it very clear that he is consistently frustrated with both sides in this conflict and wants to see an end to this fighting as well as an end to the war," Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

This trip is Witkof's third to Russia, the previous one taking place on March 13 in Moscow, where he met with senior Russian officials before being received by Putin.

"The quickest way to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine is to support a strategy that gives Russia ownership of four eastern Ukrainian regions it tried to annex illegally in 2022," Witkoff said.

It's a point that Whitkoff has made before - and publicly in a podcast interview with conservative media personality Tucker Carlson last month - but which Kiev has repeatedly rejected, and which some U.S. and European officials have dismissed as a maximalist Russian demand.

During the meeting with Trump, General Keith Kellogg, the president's envoy for Ukraine, contradicted Witkoff, saying that Ukraine, while willing to negotiate some terms related to the disputed lands, would never agree to unilaterally cede full ownership of the territories to Russia.

The meeting ended without Trump deciding on a change in US strategy. On April 11, Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with Putin.

Trump administration officials are increasingly at odds over how to resolve the Ukraine-Russia impasse, with Witkof and Kellogg - who favors more direct support for Ukraine - disagreeing on the best course forward, according to U.S. officials as well as four Western diplomats who have been in contact with administration officials.

In defiance of customary security procedures, Witkoff has invited Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian envoy under U.S. sanctions since the Russian invasion, to his private residence for dinner before the White House meeting.

Witkoff, an old friend of Trump who has helped achieve key diplomatic victories for the president, has received some support from Republican skeptics on Ukraine, but his proposals have sparked outrage among other Republicans who believe the administration has turned too harshly toward Moscow.

Since taking office in January, Trump has shifted U.S. foreign policy, pushing Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire while easing many of the measures the Biden administration had taken to punish Russia for its full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in 2022.

Some U.S. and European officials worry that while Whitkof pursues Trump's strategy, the Russians are taking advantage of his lack of experience at the negotiating table.

"Witkoff should go, and Rubio should take his place," said a March 26 letter from Eric Levin, a major Republican donor.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine by May, arguing that the U.S. must end the conflict. But two partial ceasefire agreements - one on energy infrastructure and one in the Black Sea - have stalled the process as the president has grown frustrated with the lack of progress. | BGNES