However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday warned that Putin will drag out a deal for a ceasefire because he is not interested in peace, The New York Times reported.
Zelenskyy added that Putin has demanded so many preconditions that "nothing will work out at all, or that it will not work out for as long as possible."
Classified U.S. intelligence reports as recently as this month said Putin continues to focus on his maximalist goal of bringing Ukraine into Russia's security and economic orbit despite Trump's attempts to end the war through negotiations, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Russia has sharply accelerated a push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, where they took control of about 100 settlements in a surprise incursion into Russian territory last August.