Russia now appears more inclined towards a ceasefire, Zelenskyy says in nightly address

Vladimir Putin held talks with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, days before the White House's revised deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal or potentially face severe economic penalties.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Wednesday that Russia appeared to be more inclined to a ceasefire after US special envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow."The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US," he said.Those comments come after Zelenskyy held a phone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump in which he reiterated Ukraine's support for a just peace with Russia."Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started," Zelenskyy said in a post on X, adding that European leaders had also joined the call without specifying which ones.Speaking about Witkoff’s talks with Putin in Moscow, Trump called the meeting  "highly productive" in a post on his Truth Social platform and claimed that "great progress was made" without going into details."Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" he posted.But a White House official quoted by the Reuters news agency said that while the meeting went well and the "Russians are eager to continue engaging," the secondary sanctions Trump had threatened to impose on Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday.Witkoff in MoscowEarlier on Wednesday, Putin held talks with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, days before the White House's revised deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or potentially face severe economic penalties.Trump’s deadline for Putin to make peace in Ukraine ends on Friday, revised down from the initial 50 days he set.Washington has threatened "severe tariffs" and other economic penalties if the fighting doesn’t stop.However, Trump himself has doubted the effectiveness of sanctions, saying Sunday that Russia has proven to be "pretty good at avoiding sanctions."The Kremlin has insisted that international sanctions imposed since the full-scale invasion have had a limited impact.But Ukraine maintains sanctions are taking their toll on Moscow’s war machine and wants Western allies to ramp them up.Trump has also expressed increasing frustration with Putin over Russia’s escalating strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine.The meeting between Putin and Witkoff lasted about three hours.Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin and Witkoff had a "useful and constructive conversation" that focused on the Ukrainian war and "prospects for possible development of strategic cooperation between the US and Russia."Before those talks, Witkoff took a walk through Zaryadye Park, close to the Kremlin, with Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's envoy for investment and economic cooperation.Dmitriev said later on the social media platform X that “dialogue will prevail.”Dmitriev played a key role in three rounds of direct talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in recent months, as well as discussions between Russian and US officials.Those negotiations made no progress on ending the three-year war following Russia's but did facilitate POW exchanges between the two sides.