US President Donald Trump has praised talks held with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the US-proposed ceasefire deal in Ukraine as "good and productive".
This comes after Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff met in Moscow on Thursday evening, after which the Kremlin said it shared the US's "cautious optimism" over a peace process, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that the talks provided "a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, accused Putin of trying to drag out talks to continue the war, while Sir Keir Starmer said the Russian president could not be allowed to "play games" with ceasefire proposals.
Earlier this week, Ukraine accepted the US-proposed ceasefire deal, which Russia is yet to agree to.
On Thursday, Putin had said the idea of a ceasefire was "right and we support it... but there are nuances" and he set out a number of tough conditions for peace, a response branded "manipulative" by Zelensky.
