Taiwo Popoola
The Kremlin on Friday said Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his US counterpart, Donald Trump, a message about his proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine via Trump’s special envoy.
It said Putin saw grounds for cautious optimism that a deal could be reached.
Trump had said he wants Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a swift ceasefire to pause fighting in a conflict which he has warned has the potential to spiral into World War Three and has already cost many lives on both sides.
Trump again on Friday pressed Russia to sign and complete a Cease Fire and Final Agreement, saying in a post on his private social media platform that he would extract the US from what he called a real mess with Russia.
Putin on Thursday stated that he supported Trump’s ceasefire proposal in principle, but stressed that fighting could not be paused until several crucial conditions were worked out, raising the prospect of longer negotiations to clinch a deal.
Despite its heavily qualified nature, Trump called Putin’s statement “very promising”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that Putin, who has expressed concern that Ukrainian forces would use any ceasefire to regroup – had held late-night talks in Moscow with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, to discuss the US proposal. Kyiv has already accepted the proposal.
Peskov said Putin had used the meeting to convey signals to Trump.
“Additional information was given to the Russian side, and also, actually, Putin conveyed information and additional signals to President Trump through Witkoff,” he said.
