President Donald Trump is sending his special representative, Steve Witkoff, to Moscow this week in a last attempt to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. The trip happens just before Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to change its actions or face new penalties.
Trump’s irritation with Russia’s behavior has become more obvious in recent weeks. He first gave a 50-day deadline in July for Russia and Ukraine to stop fighting. However, after seeing no real effort from Moscow, he cut the deadline to this Friday, August 8. The President has called Russia’s repeated strikes on Ukrainian civilians “horrible” and has also sent two nuclear submarines to the area following online threats from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
