The Kremlin said there are reasons to be optimistic about a settlement to the conflict but that more work needs to be done.

Russia struck a sedate tone on Friday but acknowledged grounds for cautious optimism, after only backing the "idea" of a U.S. brokered 30-day ceasefire with firm caveats.

The Trump administration said it was optimistic about the possibility of a ceasefire in Ukraine even as President Vladimir Putin appeared to reject US calls for immediate halt to the violence.Instead the Russian leader demanded Ukraine to order troops who had occupied land in the Kursk region to surrender.

The Kremlin said Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine.

I think that now Vladimir Putin's game with Donald Trump has begun. The Russian dictator will try to prolong the negotiation phase before the ceasefire and the possibility of ending the war as much as he can.

Former Obama Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave President Donald Trump credit for negotiating a potential agreement between Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.

President Donald Trump appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainian troops he said were in a “very bad and vulnerable position” and avoid what he said would be a massacre unlike anything since World War II.

Democratic strategist James Carville suggested during a Thursday podcast that President Donald Trump is only pursuing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire because

According to Reuters, the Kremlin chief has sent a proposal concerning the war in Ukraine to the American President Donald Trump. It's a ceasefire. According to some media, Vladimir Putin has sent a message to Donald Trump regarding his ceasefire proposal in Ukraine.