Vladimir Putin has said he agrees with the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine, but that “questions” remain about the nature of a truce – as he set out a number of tough conditions for peace.
The Russian president was responding to a plan for a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine agreed to earlier this week following talks with the US.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Putin’s response to the plan as “manipulative” and called for more sanctions on Russia.
Meanwhile, the US placed further sanctions on Russian oil, gas and banking sectors.
Russian officials said Putin was expected to hold talks on the ceasefire on Thursday evening with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who had flown to Moscow earlier that day.
It is not clear whether that meeting actually took place. On Friday, Russia’s state media quoted the air traffic monitor Flightradar as saying the plane believed to be carrying Witkoff had left Moscow.
Moscow and Washington have not commented on the issue.
Is Putin ready for a ceasefire or playing for time?
Late on Thursday and overnight, both Russia and Ukraine reported new enemy drone attacks.
Ukraine said seven people – including children – were injured in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.
Russia reported a large fire at an oil facility in the southern city of Tuapse.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said of the ceasefire proposal: “The idea is right – and we support it – but there are questions that we need to discuss.”
A ceasefire should lead to “an enduring peace and remove the root causes of this crisis”, Putin said.
“We need to negotiate with our American colleagues and partners,” he said. “Maybe I’ll have a call with Donald Trump.”
Putin added: “It will be good for the Ukrainian side to achieve a 30-day ceasefire.
“We are in favour of it, but there are nuances.”
One of the areas of contention is Russia’s western Kursk region, Putin said, where Ukraine launched a military incursion last August and captured some territory.
He claimed Russia was fully back in control of Kursk, and said Ukrainian troops there “have been isolated”.
“They are trying to leave, but we are in control. Their equipment has been abandoned,” Putin said.
“There are two options for Ukrainians in Kursk – surrender or die.”
Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said a day earlier that Ukrainian troops would hold defensive positions in the Kursk region “as long as it is expedient and necessary” despite “increased” pressure from Russian forces.
At Thursday’s press conference, Putin also outlined some of his questions over how a ceasefire would work. He asked: “How will those 30 days be used? For Ukraine to mobilise? Rearm? Train people? Or none of that? Then a question – how will that be controlled?
“Who will give the order to end the fighting? At what cost? Who decides who has broken any possible ceasefire, over 2,000km? All those questions need meticulous work from both sides. Who polices it?”
Putin “doesn’t say no directly”, Zelensky said in his nightly video address, but “in practice, he’s preparing a rejection”.
He added: “Putin, of course, is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war, wants to kill Ukrainians.”
The Russian leader had set so many pre-conditions “that nothing will work out at all”, Zelensky said.
After Putin’s remarks and Zelensky’s response, there is now a clear divide between both sides’ positions.
Ukraine wants a two-stage process: a quick ceasefire and then talks about a longer-term settlement.
Russia believes you cannot separate the two processes and all the issues should be decided in a single deal. Both sides seem content to argue their differences.
Ukraine believes it can put pressure on Russia, painting it as a reluctant peacemaker, playing for time. Russia, equally, believes it has a chance now to raise its fundamental concerns, about Nato expansion and Ukraine’s sovereignty.
But this presents a problem for Donald Trump. He has made it clear he wants a quick result, ending the fighting in days.
And right now, Putin does not appear to want to play ball.
Speaking at the White House following Putin’s remarks, Trump said he would “love” to meet the Russian leader and that he hoped Russia would “do the right thing” and agree to the proposed 30-day truce.
“We’d like to see a ceasefire from Russia,” he said.
Speaking earlier at a meeting in the Oval Office with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump told reporters he had already discussed specifics with Ukraine.
“We’ve been discussing with Ukraine land and pieces of land that would be kept and lost, and all of the other elements of a final agreement,” Trump said.
“A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.”
On the subject of Ukraine joining the Nato military alliance, Trump said “everybody knows what the answer to that is”.
The fresh sanctions on Russian oil and gas came as the Trump administration further restricted access to US payment systems, making it harder for other countries to buy Russian oil.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov rejected the ceasefire proposal put forward by the US.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin released a video it said showed Putin visiting Russia’s Kursk region, symbolically dressed in military fatigues. Russia later said it recaptured the key town of Sudzha.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, and now controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
More than 95,000 people fighting for Russia’s military have been killed in the war, according to data analysed so far and confirmed by the BBC. The actual death toll is believed to be much higher.
Russia’s military has not publicly revealed its battlefield casualties since September 2022, when it said 5,937 soldiers had been killed.
Ukraine last updated its casualty figures in December 2024, when Zelensky acknowledged 43,000 Ukrainian deaths among soldiers and officers. Western analysts believe this figure to be underestimated.
