Putin considers stopping Ukraine air attacks to placate Trump: reports

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is reportedly mulling an air truce with Ukraine to halt its record-breaking drone and missile bombardments as a key concession to President Trump ahead of his Friday deadline to make peace.

The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected attempts for a full-fledged cease-fire with Ukraine, but is open to an air truce if Kyiv agrees to it as well, Bloomberg reported, citing a source familiar with the potential agreement.

The possible truce was floated as Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow Wednesday for high-stakes talks to end the bloodshed.

The pair met for around three hours, with Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who was present in the meeting, describing the conversation as “useful and constructive.”

No further details were shared and there was no immediate comment from the US side.

One of Putin’s few allies in Europe, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, also recently dangled the idea of an air truce, state-owned Russian outlet TASS reported.

It is not clear how serious the Russians are about a potential air truce and Putin has not publicly entertained the possibility.

However, a halt in drone and missile attacks would give Russia time to rebuild its air defenses and potentially postpone punitive measures from Trump.

Trump has given Russia until Friday to move towards peace with Ukraine or else he will impose secondary tariffs or sanctions against the country, meaning countries that import Russian energy will also be hit with punitive measures.

With Post wires