Russia on Friday said President Vladimir Putin had sent “additional” signals to counterpart Donald Trump about a Washington-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine, adding it was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospect of a deal.
US envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin late Thursday to lay out the details of the joint US-Ukrainian plan, which envisages a 30-day pause in hostilities between Moscow and Kyiv after three years of fighting.
The Kremlin said Putin conveyed “additional” signals to Trump via Witkoff, and that the two leaders could speak once Trump had been briefed on these messages.
“When Mr Witkoff brings all the information to President Trump, we will determine the timing of a conversation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“There is an understanding on all sides that such a conversation is needed.”
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a Fox News interview that the US had “some cautious optimism” after Witkoff’s visit.
Commenting on Waltz’s remarks, Peskov said Friday: “There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.”
“There is still much to be done, but the president has nevertheless identified with President Trump’s position.”
Putin said Thursday he backed the idea of a truce with Ukraine, but said he had “serious questions” about how it would be implemented that he wanted to discuss with Trump.
The Russian leader said he wanted any settlement to secure “long-term peace”, alluding to Moscow’s demand that Ukraine be barred from NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday condemned Putin’s ambivalent response to the proposal as “very manipulative”, while Germany called it a “delaying tactic”.
– Ukraine losing grip in Kursk –
Moscow has been pressing forward on the front line for over a year, capturing swathes of east Ukraine and in the past week driving much of Kyiv’s forces out of its Kursk region.
Russia said Friday it had retaken Goncharovka, a village in its Kursk region that had been occupied by Ukrainian troops.
The Kursk region was one of Kyiv’s few bargaining chips in swapping land with Russia, which has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale assault in February 2022.
Ukraine now risks losing its grip on the border region entirely, denying it this point of leverage in talks with Moscow.
In some sectors of the Kursk region, Russian troops have crossed into Ukrainian territory in the Sumy region.
Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian border guard service, told Ukrainian state media that Russian forces were trying to enter Sumy.
“We continue to detect attempts by small assault groups to enter our territory and approach our border,” he said.
– Fewer drones –
Ukraine and Russia exchanged drone fire on Friday, but it was less intense compared to previous days.
The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine had launched 28 drones overnight compared with over 300 in the early hours of Tuesday, when three people were killed.
Kyiv said Russia attacked Ukraine with 27 drones overnight, a fraction of the number it usually sends over, with some recent barrages comprised of more than 100 drones.
Both sides reported damage nevertheless.
Ukrainian drones attacked energy facilities and a missile storage facility in Russia overnight, a security source in Kyiv said Friday, while a Russian aerial attack wounded several in Ukraine.
Drones dispatched by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit gas compressor systems in the western Russian regions of Tambov and Saratov, the source said.
A Ukrainian drone also hit a warehouse storing missiles used for S-300 and S-400 Russian air defence systems, it added.
The mayor of Moscow meanwhile said Russian air defence systems had shot down four Ukrainian drones that were heading towards the capital.
The governor of the southern Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian attack had sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the Black Sea resort town of Tuapse.
A fuel tank containing up to 20,000 tonnes of oil products was on fire at the refinery, officials said.
Authorities in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region said eight people were wounded by the Russian attacks overnight.