Zelenskyy told reporters that during a conference call with U.S. President Donald Trump and several European leaders, Witkoff relayed Russia was ready “to end the war, at least to [enact] a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is showing signs it may want to end the war after Zelenskyy spoke by phone with President Donald Trump, White House adviser Steve Witkoff and European leaders on Tuesday.

"He is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war," Zelenskyy said, citing a report from his intelligence and military commands. "Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before,

Across the Donetsk region, word of Steve Witkoff’s emerging deal with the Kremlin, confused in details, and immediately refused by Kyiv, has put lives already ravaged by war into a deeper spin.

Ahead of a summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin, Russian troops continued their campaign to take full control of Ukraine's Donetsk region.