US special envoy Steve Witkoff has travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin as US President Donald Trump called on the Kremlin "to get moving" as he pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Witkoff had landed in Russia.
He later also confirmed that the US special envoy would meet with Putin, according to a report by US outlet Axios.
Peskov said no time limit had been set for the meeting, which could last as long as "one hour, two, three, four, if necessary." Dialogue on finding a peace deal on Ukraine would be continued, he added.
Following Witkoff's arrival, Trump took to social media to put further pressure on Russia.
"Russia has to get moving," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Too many people (sic) ere dying thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war - A war that should have never happened, and wouldn't have happened, if I were President!!!"
The Flight radar24 tracking portal showed Witkoff's plane landing in St Petersburg, according to Russian media.
The Kremlin said that Putin will chair an "extremely important" meeting in the city later on Friday focused on issues related to the Russian naval fleet.
Following his arrival, Witkoff met with Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, who visited Washington earlier this month.
The US envoy has held talks with the Russian president on two previous visits to Russia in February and March.
Trump's frustration with Putin appears to be growing. 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 delaying tactics for much longer.
"We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not," Rubio said at the Brussels meeting last week.
Trump "is not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations," he said.
With Western help, Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for more than three years. The US has tried tobroker a 30-day ceasefire, but while Kiev agreed to the proposal,Putin set a number of preconditions. - dpa
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