Trump's envoy Witkoff meets Putin in Moscow

MOSCOW (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday at what Trump has said is a key moment in diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

Witkoff has emerged as Washington's key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, and has already held three long meetings with the Kremlin leader.

Video published by the Kremlin showed Witkoff and Putin shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries before sitting down on opposite sides of a white oval table.

Putin was accompanied by his foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

Witkoff's latest visit to Moscow comes a day after Trump criticised a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 people, and posted on social media: "Vladimir, STOP!"

But Trump also said there had been significant progress in peace talks.

"This next few days is going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now," Trump told reporters on Thursday. "I think we're going to make a deal ... I think we're getting very close."

Russian news outlet Izvestia earlier published photographs showing Witkoff strolling in central Moscow with Dmitriev, who has played a prominent role in contacts with the Trump administration.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva and Mark Trevelyan; editing by Philippa Fletcher)