Steve Witkoff’s Three-Hour Meeting with Putin Ends in a Total Flop — Trump Furious, Turns to India**
Steve Witkoff sat down with Vladimir Putin for three hours behind closed doors on Wednesday — and walked out with absolutely nothing to show for it. Zero progress on Ukraine. Zero movement toward peace. Zero wins for Donald Trump.
The Kremlin tried to save face, calling the meeting “constructive and useful,” which is Russian for “we didn’t agree on squat.” The sit-down wrapped up just before Trump’s deadline for Russian sanctions, and Putin didn’t budge an inch.
Trump wanted momentum — even just a whisper of a peace deal. Instead, Russia ramped up attacks. Since the last Witkoff-Putin meeting in April, Ukraine has faced a surge of missile strikes and drone barrages. If anything, the war is accelerating.
### Putin Keeps Stalling, Trump Keeps Waiting
Russian state media like TASS and RIA Novosti claimed “signals were exchanged” on Ukraine — but as usual, no one said what that meant. No details. No deliverables. Just more Kremlin fog and empty talk. They even hinted more info would come **after** Witkoff briefs Trump. Translation: “We’ll tell you later.” Classic Putin stall playbook.
Witkoff landed in Moscow and was greeted by Russia’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. State media filmed the handshake with Putin — and honestly, that handshake might be the only “progress” anyone saw.
Meanwhile, Trump is done waiting. He’s been losing patience for weeks. In early July, he warned Russia that new sanctions were coming if there was no peace movement. “We’ll see what happens,” he said back then. Well, **it happened** — and Trump is pissed.
Behind the scenes, Trump has reportedly called Putin’s recent phone calls “tense,” blasting his Ukraine excuses as “bullsh\*t,” and slamming the continued missile attacks as “disgusting.” But none of it seems to have landed. Putin is still doing what Putin does: delay, deny, deflect.
With Putin Stonewalling, Trump Targets India
Minutes after the Moscow talks collapsed, Trump shifted gears — hard. His new target? **India.** The White House dropped a hammer: a **25% tariff** on all Indian imports, on top of existing rates — pushing the total to **50%**.
The official reason? India keeps buying Russian oil. Trump’s executive order made it clear:
> “I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly... articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent.”
Trump had been warning India for a week — saying they’d face a tariff plus a “penalty” for supporting Russia’s war machine. Nobody knew what the “penalty” meant — until now.
He laid it all out Tuesday morning on CNBC’s *Squawk Box*:
> “They’re buying Russian oil. They’re fueling the war machine... and if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”
### The Death of a Trade Deal
Just a month ago, Washington and Delhi were buzzing about a shiny new trade deal. Headlines were optimistic. Negotiations looked close. Now? Dead in the water.
Things unraveled fast. On July 30, Trump publicly accused **China** of backing Putin, and threatened penalties for “everyone involved.” Days later, Indian officials responded: **we’re still buying Russian oil** — deal with it.
That was the last straw.
Now India is the latest front in Trump’s trade war. And this one isn’t just about economics — it’s personal. If Putin won’t listen to Trump, then Trump will squeeze the countries that bankroll him.
But if history has taught us anything, Putin doesn’t blink. He waits.
