Putin hails Trump for 'doing everything' to bolster Russia-US ties as Ukraine feels isolated in peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded his American counterpart, Donald Trump, for “doing everything” to improve relations between Moscow and Washington. The remarks from Putin came during his meeting with security officials and came just days after Trump said the US has had “very good and productive discussions” with Putin in recent days.

According to Russian news outlet Tass, Putin laid out his vision at the meeting and insisted that improving ties with the United States would now be one of the main agendas. “We know that the new administration headed by President Trump is doing everything to restore at least something of what was destroyed by the previous US administration,” he said.

As per the report, Putin also responded to an appeal by Trump to save the lives of “thousands” of surrounding Ukrainian soldiers and insisted that he would respect the request as long as the soldiers of the eastern European nation surrendered in Kursk . However, Kyiv has extensively denied claims that its troops have been encircled by Russian forces in Kursk.

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The remarks from Putin came after Steve Witkoff , Trump’s close ally and special envoy to the Middle East, held late-night talks with the Russian leader on Thursday. The American diplomat put forward the US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war on Ukraine. While Kyiv has already accepted the proposal, Putin listed out a series of sweeping conditions that he wants to be fulfilled before Russia agrees to the truce.

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One of the conditions Putin laid out was that Ukraine should neither rearm nor mobilise during the 30-day truce. Meanwhile, in a post on TruthSocial on Friday, Trump said that there was a “very good chance” the war between Russia and Ukraine could “finally come to an end”. The president also pointed out that he had appealed to Putin to save the lives of “thousands of Ukrainian troops” supposedly surrounded by the Russian army.

The claim was first made by Putin earlier this week. “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," Trump wrote in the post. During his address at the Justice Department , Trump chided Ukraine for seizing Kursk.

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“First of all, you don’t want to pick on somebody a lot larger than you, even with the money,” he said. “There’s a lot of money that we gave them and a lot of equipment. We make the best military equipment in the world." “But even with all of that, it’s unbelievable. Right now, you have a lot of Ukrainian soldiers that are encircled and in grave danger, and I’ve asked them not to kill those soldiers, please, not to kill those soldiers. We don’t want them killed," he furthered.

The warm exchange between Trump and Putin is likely to alarm Kyiv and other European nations. In the latest meeting, Putin told the security council that he had heard Trump’s appeal and said the lives of Ukrainian troops would be spared if they surrendered. Meanwhile, Kyiv continues to deny the encirclement allegations.

Ukrainian general staff wrote in a statement published on their media channels: “Reports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units by the enemy in the Kursk region are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners. There is no threat of encirclement of our units.” Even some of the pro-Russian Telegrams have disputed the claims as well.

The ball is in Russia’s court

On Friday, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin had sent Trump a message via Witkoff about his proposal for a ceasefire, maintaining that Russia has “cautious optimism” towards the deal. Interestingly, Peskov’s statement was echoed by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who said there were “reasons to be cautiously optimistic ”.

“We’ll examine the Russian position more closely, and the president will then determine what the next steps are. Suffice it to say, I think there is reason to be cautiously optimistic,” Rubio said. “Obviously, we will see what Russia and others are willing to do. It’s not just Russia, obviously; it has to be acceptable to Ukraine," he added.

While the White House remains optimistic, US intelligence services have reportedly assessed that Putin remains committed to achieving “his maximalist goal of dominating Ukraine”. An intelligence report circulated among Trump officials and obtained by the Washington Post maintained that Putin remains determined to maintain control over Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated on Friday that Russian attempts to set up conditions for the 30-day ceasefire only “complicate and drag out the process”. “Russia is the only party that wants the war to continue and diplomacy to break down,” Zelenskyy said on X after a call with the secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

“Putin will not end the war on his own. But the strength of America is enough to make it happen," he added. In the post, Zelenskyy emphasised that Ukraine is committed to upholding the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to establish a lasting peace. “During the period of silence, we could prepare a reliable peace plan, put it on the table, discuss the details, and implement it. We are ready,” the Ukrainian president said.

With inputs from agencies.