Russian President Vladimir Putin met with United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff for three hours on August 6 for “constructive talks”, just two days before a deadline set by former President Donald Trump for Moscow to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine or face additional sanctions. Trump also said that he intends to have an in-person meeting with Putin in the near future. 

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who attended the talks, described the meeting as “useful and constructive” and confirmed that both sides exchanged “signals” on Ukraine, without disclosing further details. However, Trump added to his upbeat comments that he was considering his first round of sanctions on Russia and new heavy tariffs on China if the Kremlin did not agree to a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.

“On our part, in particular on the Ukrainian issue, some signals were transmitted. Corresponding signals were also received from President Trump,” Ushakov told Russian broadcaster Zvezda.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, the Kremlin was considering an “air truce” ahead of the talks and was prepared to scale back its missile barrage that escalated with a devastating missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in May that have seen the number of daily missiles and drone attacks quadruple in recent months.

Two people familiar with the plan told The New York Times that Trump intends to meet with Putin in person next week and shortly after plans to hold a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy.

A NYT source said that Trump shared his plans during a phone call with European leaders and Zelenskyy after Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow. European leaders will not attend these meetings. the NYT noted that it is unclear whether Putin and Zelenskiy have agreed to Trump’s plan,

Trump is also considering imposing sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers if Putin doesn't agree to a Ukraine ceasefire by August 8. Those would be the first time of Trump’s second term that he has imposed any sanctions on Russia.

Trump will decide whether to impose secondary sanctions on Russia’s trading partners within the next 24 to 36 hours, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on August 6, The Kyiv Independent reports.

The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin remains sceptical that yet more US sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war. As bne IntelliNews reported, analysts also remain sceptical that Trump’s proposed sanctions on Russia’s oil customers can be made to work, and if imposed would almost certainly see oil and gas prices soar.

However, Putin remains unwilling to burn his bridges with Washington completely as Trump represents his best chance of having the 30,000-plus sanctions on Russia lifted in his lifetime. During the early stages of the ceasefire talks that kicked off in Riyadh on February 18 Trump backed Putin’s calls for significant sanctions relief. For his part Trump remains keen to do business with Russia and has brought up the possibility again recently, even as he has made some of his most pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia comments since taking office in January in recent weeks.

Commenting on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed that ceasefire arrangements had been discussed during the meeting and said that Russia was now “more inclined” to call a ceasefire, but gave no details.

Witkoff’s visit to Moscow comes amid a renewed diplomatic push by Washington to end the three-and-a-half-year conflict sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to Bloomberg and independent Russian outlet The Bell, the Kremlin may be considering a proposal for a moratorium on air strikes by both Russia and Ukraine, an idea previously raised by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Andriy Yermak, Chief of Staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reiterated Kyiv’s stance on the talks in a Telegram post, stating that a “full ceasefire and a leaders' summit” were required. “The war must stop and for now this is on Russia,” he said.

Putin's conditions for peace include a legally binding pledge that Nato will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality, protection for Russian speakers and acceptance of Russia's territorial gains in the war, Russian sources have said.

Indian and Chinese tariffs

Trump also doubled tariffs on India adding a new 25% tariff rate to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil. Previously, Trump had threatened to impose 100% tariffs on any country continuing to do business with Russia.

India has ignored the threats and continued to buy Russian oil and the Foreign Ministry issued an angry statement ahead of the new tariff announcement denouncing what it said was the hypocrisy of the White House position, pointing out that both the US and Europe import more Russian energy and goods than India does.

The Indian government issues a second statement after Trump’s 25% new tariff announcement.

“We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the statement said. “It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their national interests. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.

India appears to have moved closer to Russia in the last year, its major supplier of oil and arms, after drones made using Indian technology were found on Ukraine’s battlefields. China has also moved up a notch after a new decoy drone was also discovered in Ukraine that is also made almost completely using Chinese technology.

Despite the new tariff announcement, there is still wiggle room for more negotiations. A new round of US-Indian trade talks was scheduled for August 25, but Trump said the additional 25% tariffs just introduced will not come into effect until after 21 days on August 27.

So far, no new tariffs have been announced on China, which is expected to resist any tariffs on its trade with the US on principle, however, Trump said tariffs are possible, especially after his “10-day deadline” expires on August 8. Trump on August 6 said he could announce further tariffs on China “similar to the 25% duties announced earlier on India” over its purchases of Russian oil, “depending on what happens.”

"Could happen," Trump told reporters. "It may happen ... I can't tell you yet. We did it with India. We're probably doing it with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” Reuters reports. Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned China that it could also face new tariffs if it continued buying Russian oil.

A previous attempt to impose triple-digit tariffs on Beijing failed when China responded by threatening to cut the US off from critical mineral and rare earth metals (REMs) exports on which America’s tech industry is almost totally dependent.

Ahead of the August 8 deadline, there have been reports that China is already choking off supplies of critical minerals to the Pentagon, including the supply of missile magnets, infrared sensors and drone motors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Weapons-maker Lockheed Martin and other defence giants say the US war machine is already running low on parts.

“More than 80,000 Pentagon components use minerals now under Chinese control. Nearly all of America’s defense mineral supply chains depend on at least one Chinese source,” says Tymofiy Mylovanov, rector of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) and former economics minister

Beijing controls 90% of rare earths. It banned exports of germanium, gallium, and antimony — used for bullets, missiles, and night vision. ePropelled, a US drone motor maker, faced a two-month delay after China blocked a magnet shipment. Its Chinese supplier demanded: blueprints, buyer names, proof it wasn’t for defence. ePropelled refused and the order was stopped, the WSJ reports.

At the same time, as US firms scramble to stockpile critical minerals on dwindling supplies, the prices for the minerals have exploded, up 60-fold in some cases. However, as the weight of these minerals actually required in production is so small, the high prices are not expected to have a major impact on the cost of weapons’ production.

Separately, Trump said on August 6 that he plans to impose 100% tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of imported semiconductors used in consumer electronics and other products, but indicated he would not charge companies that commit to making chips in the US

“We’ll be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors,” Trump said at a White House event where Apple CEO Tim Cook announced plans to boost the company’s investment in the United States by $100bn.