President Donald Trump’s trusted foreign envoy Steve Witkoff is due in Moscow on Wednesday after the Kremlin requested a meeting with him in a last-ditch effort to avoid the punishing new sanctions Trump has threatened to impose this week,

US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, state media reported, where he will meet with Russian leadership as President Donald Trump's deadline to impose fresh sanctions over Russia's offensive on Ukraine looms.

The visit is Witkoff's fifth to Moscow since Trump took office, with the special envoy at the forefront of White House efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.