United States 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, after which the Kremlin said it shared the US’ “cautious optimism” over a peace process.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that the talks provided “a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Putin of attempting to drag out talks to prolong the war. At the same time, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned that the Russian leader could not be allowed to “play games” with ceasefire proposals.
Earlier this week, Ukraine accepted the US-proposed ceasefire deal, which Russia has yet to agree to. On Thursday, Putin said the idea of a ceasefire was “right, and we support it… but there are nuances,” as he outlined a number of tough conditions for peace—a response Zelensky described as “manipulative.”
Ukraine’s leader continued his criticism on Friday in a series of posts on X, writing, “Putin cannot exit this war because that would leave him with nothing. 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 added that Putin would “drag” everyone into “endless discussions… wasting days, weeks, and months on meaningless talks while his guns continue to kill people”. Zelensky said, “Every condition Putin puts forward is just an attempt to block any diplomacy. This is how Russia works. And we warned about this.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir said the Kremlin’s “complete disregard” for Trump’s ceasefire proposal demonstrated Putin was “not serious about peace.”
“If Russia finally comes to the table, then we must be ready to monitor a ceasefire to ensure it is a serious and enduring peace,” he said. “If they don’t, then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war.”
On Saturday, Sir Keir is expected to host a video call with up to 25 global leaders to develop a proposed peacekeeping mission following a summit in London earlier this month. As he described it, the “coalition of the willing” would work to deter future Russian aggression if the US-proposed ceasefire takes effect.
In his social media posts on Friday, Zelensky strongly urged everyone who can influence Russia, especially the United States, to take strong steps that can help, insisting that Putin would not stop the war alone.
“Putin is lying about the real situation on the battlefield… the casualties” and “the true state of his economy,” he said, stressing that the Russian president was “doing everything possible to ensure that diplomacy fails.”
Still, the White House believes the two sides have “never been this close to peace.”
Speaking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that the talks between Putin and Witkoff in Moscow were “productive”. She added that Trump has been “putting pressure on Putin and the Russians to do the right thing.”
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Trump’s social media post also “strongly requested” Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian troops, describing them as surrounded by Russian forces and warning that failure to do so would result in a “horrible massacre” not seen since World War II.
His remarks came after Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops in Kursk had been “isolated” and were attempting to withdraw, as Russia intensified efforts to reclaim the region previously seized by Ukraine.
But on Friday, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff denied any encirclement of its troops, calling it “false and fabricated.” A statement said operations were continuing, with Ukrainian forces having withdrawn and “successfully regrouped” to more favourable defensive positions.
“There is no threat of encirclement of our units,” it said.
Responding 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 surrendered.
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