Russian artist Alexey Sergienko's painting Peace to the Peace depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump is seen in the Sergienko Gallery in Saint Petersburg on March 12.OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday to spare Ukrainian troops being pushed back out of Russia’s Kursk region and said there was a “very good chance” the war could end.
Mr. Trump posted on social media after his envoy, Steve Witkoff, held a lengthy meeting with Mr. Putin on Thursday night in Moscow that Mr. Trump described as “very good and productive”.
“There is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” he said.
The U.S. President said thousands of Ukrainian troops were “completely surrounded” by the Russian military and “in a very bad and vulnerable position”.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!”
Military analysts have said Ukrainian forces in Kursk are nearly cut off after rapidly losing ground in what had been their only foothold in Russian territory.
Kyiv’s military, however, said there was no threat of encirclement, and that its troops were pulling back to better positions.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at a Group of Seven meeting in La Malbaie, Que., said Mr. Witkoff is returning to the United States and there may be discussions about Ukraine over the weekend.
“But we certainly feel like we’re at least some steps closer to ending this war and bringing peace. But it’s still a long journey,” he told reporters.
Moscow said on Friday that its forces had recaptured another village in their drive to dislodge Ukrainian forces from their last remaining footholds inside Russia’s Kursk region.
The Kremlin said Mr. Putin had sent Mr. Trump a message about his ceasefire plan via Mr. Witkoff, expressing “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached to end the three-year-old conflict. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Mr. Trump himself had not spoken to Mr. Putin yet.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who met Mr. Trump on Thursday, told Fox News that Mr. Trump’s drive to get Russia to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers was “extremely helpful and extremely important.”
The Trump administration launched its latest round of outreach to Moscow this week after Ukraine agreed in principle to a ceasefire at talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia.
On Friday, Mr. Trump again pressed Russia to sign and complete “a Cease Fire and Final Agreement”, saying on his private social media platform that he would extract the U.S. from what he called a “real ‘mess’ with Russia”.
Mr. Putin said on Thursday that he supported Mr. Trump’s proposal in principle, but that fighting could not be paused until several crucial conditions were worked out, raising the prospect of longer negotiations.
Despite Mr. Putin’s apparent conditions, Mr. Trump called Mr. Putin’s statement “very promising”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that Mr. Putin – who has expressed concern that Ukraine would exploit any truce to regroup – had used the late-night meeting with Mr. Witkoff to convey information and “signals” to Mr. Trump.
“There are certainly reasons to be cautiously optimistic,” Mr. Peskov said. “[Putin] said that he supports President Trump’s position in terms of a settlement, but he voiced some questions that need to be answered together”.
Mr. Peskov said the timing of a phone call between the presidents would be worked out once Mr. Witkoff had briefed Mr. Trump.
Mr. Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO, Russia to control the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, and the size of the Ukrainian army to be limited.
He has also made clear he wants Western sanctions eased and a presidential election to be held in Ukraine, which Kyiv says is premature while martial law remains in force.
Mr. Peskov played down reports suggesting Russian officials had told U.S. counterparts they did not want Mr. Trump’s Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg to be involved in top-level discussions on the war. He said Moscow had no intention of meddling.