STORY: U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (August 3) said special envoy Steve Witkoff may travel to Russia this coming week.

Trump said Witkoff may travel to Russia, potentially on Wednesday (August 6) or Thursday (August 7) as he warned that he would impose sanctions if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before Friday (August 8).

"There'll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions," Trump told reporters.

"They're wily characters and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions, so we'll see what happens."

The U.S. leader, who returned to power on a pledge to swiftly end the war, has in recent weeks rolled back his earlier conciliatory approach toward Moscow and signaled openness to arming Ukraine.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP COMING OFF MARINE ONE, SPEAKING TO MEDIA AND BOARDING AIR FORCE ONE / SOUNDBITES FROM TRUMP

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 3, 2025) (U.S. NETWORK POOL - No use USA)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP EXITING MARINE ONE AND WALKING TOWARDS MEDIA

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: "Steve Witkoff, his message will be to the Russians. Is there anything they can do to avoid sanctions at this point?"

TRUMP: "Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed. They had a number that just came out that a tremendous number of Russian soldiers are being killed. And likewise, Ukraine, a lower number, but still thousands and thousands of people. And now we're adding towns where they're being hit by missiles. So it's a lot of people being killed in this ridiculous war. And, you know, we stopped, we stopped a lot of countries from war, India and Pakistan. We stopped a lot of countries, and we're going to get that one stopped too, somehow we're going to get that one stopped, that's a really horrible (war).".

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: "Mister President, can you give us an update on Steve Witkoff in Russia, what happens on Friday if the deadline comes and Russia has not agreed to a cease fire?"

TRUMP: "Well, there'll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions. You know, they're wily characters, and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions. So we'll see what happens. But Steve (Witkoff) is focused right now on the border in terms of, we're talking about with Gaza, getting people fed. And he may be going, I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday, may be going to Russia. They would like to see him. They've asked that he meet. So we'll see what happens."

6. WHITE FLASH

7. TRUMP WALKING TOWARDS AIR FORCE ONE AND BOARDING