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Washington is making last-ditch efforts to convince Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine before the expiration of the 10-day ultimatum that Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin on July 30, in order to avoid a new package of harsh sanctions.
The White House chief told reporters that Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, will meet with Vladimir Putin in Russia. The meeting is expected to take place on Wednesday or Thursday, the last two days before the ultimatum expires.
Asked what Witkoff would propose to Putin, Trump said curtly: "Make a deal that stops killing people."
Trump believes Putin will accept a deal to avoid sanctions. “They seem very good at avoiding sanctions. They’re cunning.”
According to American media, if the ultimatum to Putin fails to achieve a ceasefire, Trump's strategy is to hit with sanctions major direct buyers of oil from Russia, such as China and India, on which pressure from the American administration has increased in recent days.
Meanwhile, Kiev and Moscow have continued mutual air strikes before the deadline set by Trump expires.
Trump has pressured Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire agreement and end the war, which has now entered its fourth year.
On July 14, Trump said Putin had 50 days to stop the war or face tough tariffs on Russia's oil and other exports. He later shortened the deadline to August 8.
The deadline cut coincided with a deadly week for civilians in Ukraine, including the July 31 attack on Kiev, in which more than 300 drones were used, killing at least 31 people. Ukrainian forces have also intensified attacks on Russian infrastructure.
The escalation of attacks and the approaching deadline for a ceasefire agreement come at the same time that Trump announced on August 1 that he had deployed nuclear submarines to “appropriate regions.” Trump said he decided to reposition the nuclear submarines “closer to Russia” because of “extremely provocative statements” made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The US president did not specify whether it was about submarines equipped with nuclear weapons or only submarines that operate with nuclear power.
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