\n<\/p>\n
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, in Moscow late Thursday and now expects to talk to President Trump about a possible cease-fire in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.<\/p>\n
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin\u2019s spokesman, told reporters on Friday that there was \u201ccertainly\u201d reason to feel \u201ccautious optimism\u201d about the prospects for a settlement to the war, after a flurry of diplomacy in recent days. He was echoing similarly optimistic remarks made by Michael Waltz, Mr. Trump\u2019s national security adviser, late Thursday.<\/p>\n
The comments from Mr. Peskov signaled that Russia was eager to keep negotiating with the United States over Ukraine.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, before the meeting with Mr. Witkoff, Mr. Putin showed that he was in no hurry to accept the offer of a 30-day truce made by Ukraine and the United States this week. Mr. Putin told a news conference that he was open to the proposal<\/a>, but suggested that he would seek to negotiate over a slew of issues \u2014 such as Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine \u2014 that could delay any deal or make it impossible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Peskov said on Friday that Mr. Witkoff had \u201cpresented additional information to the Russian side\u201d and that Mr. Putin \u201cpassed along information and additional signals for President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mr. Peskov suggested that the outcome of the diplomatic back-and-forth would only become clear after Mr. Witkoff had briefed Mr. Trump, and after the Russian and American leaders had spoken by phone. Mr. Peskov added that the timing of a Trump-Putin call was yet to be determined. The two leaders are last known to have spoken<\/a> on Feb. 12.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Mr. Witkoff passes along all of the information he received in Moscow to his head of state \u2014 we\u2019ll determine the timing of the conversation after that,\u201d Mr. Peskov said. \u201cThere\u2019s an understanding on both sides that such a conversation is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Peskov\u2019s comments were the latest indication that Mr. Putin is seemingly trying to balance a desire to avoid upsetting Mr. Trump with his effort to force wide-ranging concessions from the West and from Ukraine. While Mr. Trump says he wants to end the war as quickly as possible, Mr. Putin appears confident that he has time on his side and that an unconditional cease-fire would benefit Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There was no immediate comment from Mr. Witkoff or from the broader Trump administration about the meeting with Mr. Putin. Mr. Witkoff, who is officially the president\u2019s Middle East envoy, has also taken on a key role as an interlocutor with Russia \u2014 spending three hours meeting with Mr. Putin last month as he finalized a prisoner exchange<\/a> between Russia and the United States.<\/p>\n