WASHINGTON — Special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff left Moscow on Friday without a cease-fire deal in hand after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected President Trump’s terms to begin winding down the war with Ukraine.

Putin met with Witkoff late Thursday after having kept the American waiting since roughly 12:30 p.m., according to flight tracking data and Russian reports, but ultimately sent him home with “signals” for Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters.

“A lot still needs to be done,” Peskov said of the cease-fire agreement, noting that Witkoff “presented additional information to the Russian side.”

Still, the 47th president remained optimistic.

“We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday morning.

Trump’s proposal was straightforward: Russia and Ukraine would halt all conflict for 30 days and conduct a prisoner exchange as signs of both parties’ commitments to finding a peaceful resolution.

The US would also restart sharing intelligence with and delivering aid to Kyiv.

But on Thursday, Putin demanded additional measures — a halt to the aid and intelligence-sharing, as well as forcing Ukraine not to train, reinforce or resupply its forces during the cease-fire — during remarks to the press.

Trump had responded Thursday it would be a “very disappointing moment for the world” if Putin did not agree to his cease-fire proposal.

“Putin’s attempts to introduce a new cease-fire agreement on terms that asymmetrically benefit Russia ignore Trump’s stated intention that the cease-fire set conditions for negotiations toward a more comprehensive peace agreement in the future,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.

“An agreement along the lines Putin appears to be offering would undermine the Trump administration’s stated objective of bringing about a sustainable peace in Ukraine, would reinforce Putin’s belief that Russia can militarily defeat Ukraine, and would incentivize Putin to resume military operations against Ukraine rather than making any concessions in formal negotiations to end the war.”

Trump appeared to offer Moscow another chance to show appetite for peace on Friday, saying on Truth Social that he “strongly recommended” that Putin not slay what he falsely claimed were “THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION” in Russia’s Kursk region.“

“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared,” Trump said. “This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he said. “God bless them all!!!”

However, multiple US and Ukrainian officials and experts deny that Kyiv’s troops are in such a position, as their withdrawal from Kursk has been underway for more than a week.

“There is no evidence that is true,” Foundation for Defending Democracies’ John Hardie said. “There is no evidence Russia has captured “thousands” of Ukrainian troops during the withdrawal, and there is no evidence that “thousands” of Ukrainian troops are currently encircled.”

A Post reporter was on the Ukrainian side of the border from Kursk on March 5 when Kyiv’s troops began to withdraw from the Russian territory it had held for seven months prior. 

The Post first reported on March 7 that Ukraine would likely pull all its forces from the Russian territory within two weeks, citing a Ukrainian commander in Kursk.

“It seems as if most Ukrainian forces withdrew or are finalizing their fighting withdrawal,” said George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War. “Our team is not tracking significant Russian claims of Russian forces surrounding Ukrainian forces at scale, and certainly not by the thousands.”

Still, some amount of Ukrainian forces remain in the region fighting off Russian attacks as Kyiv retreats, according to Hardie. It is possible Trump was referring to them, but had the estimate total wrong.

“Some Ukrainian forces apparently remain at Sudzha’s western suburbs and in the Guyevo area,” Hardie said. “The situation is still a bit perilous given Russian efforts to sever their supply routes, but they’re not surrounded.”

Russian sources claimed to have retaken roughly 90% of Kursk as of Friday morning, Barros said, noting “we can verify they’ve seized at least 70% as of yesterday.”

“Available evidence from the battlefield does not indicate any encirclements,” he said.

In a winding speech given from the Department of Justice — a place not typically frequented by sitting presidents — President Trump blasted former officials and lawyers who investigated him, saying they turned the department into one of "injustice."

The remarks were billed as an address on law and order by the White House. Trump did announce a new advertising campaign to curb fentanyl use. But he spent the majority of his time on stage going after the "hacks and radicals" in the U.S. government who he said eroded trust.

"They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people," Trump said.

Trump called out former Attorney General Merrick Garland, Marc Elias, a lawyer who worked against Trump's legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and Mark Pomerantz, a lawyer who investigated Trump's business practices, calling them "really bad people."

The president faced federal charges after he left office in 2021, including for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost — though the Justice Department dropped that case when Trump won reelection in November.

Trump's speech Friday comes as his administration has spent the last several weeks trying to reconfigure the Justice Department, including demoting attorneys who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and firing officials who investigated the president himself.

"We're turning the page on four long years of corruption, weaponization and surrender to violent criminals, and we're restoring fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law," Trump said to dozens of people gathered at the DOJ, including his Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Hands-off approach

Presidents typically have a more hands-off approach to the DOJ, in an effort to preserve the independence of the rule of law.

Trump was the first president to come to the Justice Department in person since President Barack Obama, who was there twice — once to talk about changes his administration was making to surveillance programs.

But Trump hasn't hesitated to talk about the Justice Department, and it came up repeatedly on the campaign trail as he railed against the federal charges against him; Trump said he would use the DOJ to go after people he sees as disloyal.

In his speech on Friday, Trump boasted that his administration stripped security clearances from others who have investigated him, including Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump has also revoked security clearance and intelligence briefings for former President Joe Biden.

Trump also went after the press, and said coverage of Judge Aileen Cannon should have been "illegal." Cannon, appointed by Trump, threw out the federal case that accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

"The case against me was bull**** and she correctly dismissed it," Trump said.

Trump said he has appointed "patriotic tough on crime warriors" to the DOJ. He said he would revive the 1033 program, which gives excess military equipment to state and local law enforcement.

Trump also said he will launch an anti-drug advertising campaign that shows the effects of fentanyl on the body.

"Everyone's vain. They don't want to lose their look. The look is so important. And I think when they see these things, they may say, you know what, I'm going to take a pass," he said.

On Friday, US Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan met with Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, the first formal meeting held between US officials and representatives of Georgian Dream since the contested parliamentary elections in October.

‘Ambassador Dunnigan met Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili today to outline President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s top priorities and steps that Georgia can take to demonstrate its seriousness about improving its relationship with the US’, the US Embassy said in a post.

There were no further details added.

In its own readout of the meeting, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said ‘the agenda of cooperation between Georgia and the US was discussed at the meeting, noting that the partnership of the two countries, which is based on common values and interests, requires positive dynamics, which the Georgian government has repeatedly confirmed’.

‘The parties noted that the strategic relations established between the countries over the decades are the best basis for deepening future cooperation. The meeting also discussed the security environment and challenges in the region and the world and, in this context, the importance of US support and cooperation. At the end of the meeting, the parties expressed their readiness to work actively to make progress in the strategic cooperation of the two countries’.

The meeting came after months of a diplomatic freeze between the US and Georgia, particularly during the final months of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The crisis followed the contested parliamentary elections, which handed the ruling Georgian Dream party another four-year term in office. The official results have been widely criticised, including by the US, but the Biden administration fell short of explicitly declaring the election to be illegitimate.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has openly stated on numerous occasions that it was hoping for a reset under the Trump administration, but concrete steps in that direction — before today’s meeting — had yet to materialise.

At the same time, a bipartisan group of US senators reintroduced the MEGOBARI Act in the Senate earlier this week, an act that would mandate further sanctions against Georgian officials and reaffirm support for Georgian media and civil society.

Another bill, the Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act, was introduced by Representative Joe Wilson in January 2025. The legislation would prohibit the recognition or normalisation of relations ‘with any Government of Georgia that is led by (Georgian Dream honorary founder) Bidzina Ivanishvili or any proxies due to the Ivanishvili regime’s ongoing crimes against the Georgian people’.

Neither bill has been held for an official vote.