US President Donald Trump has praised talks held with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the US-proposed ceasefire deal in Ukraine as “good and productive”.
This comes after Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff met in Moscow on Thursday evening, during which they exchanged information and shared the US’s “cautious optimism” over a peace process, the Kremlin confirmed.
Trump’s Truth Social post on Friday said the talks provided “a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, maintained that Putin’s response so far shows Russia wants to continue the war and does not want a ceasefire.
“Putin cannot exit this war because that would leave him with nothing,” Zelensky wrote in a series of posts on X.
“That is why he is now doing everything he can to sabotage diplomacy by setting extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions right from the start even before a ceasefire.”
He said Putin would “drag” everyone into “endless discussions… wasting days, weeks, and months on meaningless talks while his guns continue to kill people”.
“Every condition Putin puts forward is just an attempt to block any diplomacy. This is how Russia works. And we warned about this.”
In his daily address the night before, Zelensky said Putin was preparing to “reject” a ceasefire, explaining Putin “doesn’t say ‘no’ outright”.
Earlier this week, Ukraine accepted the US-proposed ceasefire deal, which Russia is yet to agree to.
“I strongly urge everyone who can influence Russia, especially the United States, to take strong steps that can help,” Zelensky said in his social media posts on Friday, adding Putin would not stop the war on his own.
“Putin is lying about the real situation on the battlefield… the casualties” and “the true state of his economy”, he said, explaining that Putin was “doing everything possible to ensure that diplomacy fails”.
But the White House believes the two sides have “never been this close to peace”.
Talking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that the talks between Putin and Witkoff in Moscow on Thursday were “productive”.
She added that Trump has been “putting pressure on Putin and the Russians to do the right thing”.
Trump’s social media post also “strongly requested” that Putin should spare the lives of Ukrainian troops, whom he described as surrounded by Russian forces, adding it would be a “horrible massacre” not seen since World War Two.
His comments came after Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops in Kursk had been “isolated” and were trying to leave, as Russia ramps up efforts to reclaim the region invaded by Ukraine last year.
But on Friday, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff denied the encirclement of its troops, calling it “false and fabricated”.
In a statement, it said operations were continuing, with Ukrainian troops having withdrawn and “successfully regrouped” to better defensive positions.
“There is no threat of encirclement of our units,” it said on Telegram.
In response to Trump’s request, Putin said Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk would be treated with “dignity in line with the norms of international law and the laws of the Russian Federation” if they gave up arms and surrendered.
Meanwhile, G7 members have been meeting in Quebec, where host Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said all the members agreed with the US proposal of a ceasefire that is supported by Ukrainians.
“And we are now studying and looking at Russian reactions, so ultimately the ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who was also at the meeting, said the members were united in calling for a ceasefire with “no conditions”.
Following the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would not make foreign policy decisions based on what leaders said on social media or at a news conference, and stressed the “only way to end this war is through a process of negotiations”.
