Putin supports Ukraine conflict ceasefire as US envoy visits Moscow: As it happened

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said that Washington is cautiously optimistic about the possibility of reaching a ceasefire agreement in the Ukraine conflict.

“I’m not going to announce or negotiate anything on national television, certainly not ahead of the president, but we do have some cautious optimism,” Waltz stated in an interview with Fox News. “You saw the Ukrainians move from where we were in the Oval Office, to where we were in Jeddah... And you saw President Putin’s press conference today. Of course, both sides will have their own demands, and of course both sides will have to make some compromises.”

Steve Witkoff’s plane has departed Moscow, according to flight tracking data. Russian and US officials have yet to confirm whether Trump’s special envoy met with President Vladimir Putin or to share details of his other interactions during the brief visit.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has left the US Embassy building in central Moscow, according to footage obtained by Izvestia newspaper.

President Putin reportedly concluded his working meetings and phone calls only by 1:30am Friday before departing the Kremlin for his presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow, according to Mayak radio station.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited the US Embassy in Moscow on Thursday night and stayed there for at least an hour, according to media reports.

President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during which they discussed bilateral relations, OPEC+ cooperation, and a series of recent “international contacts” regarding the Ukraine conflict that took place in the Kingdom, according to the Kremlin.

“The President of Russia highly appreciated Saudi Arabia’s mediation efforts and expressed gratitude, in particular, for creating favorable conditions for talks between representatives of Russia and the United States in Riyadh on February 18,” according to a readout of the call published early Friday morning.

In response, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “noted the importance of resolving the Ukrainian crisis and expressed his readiness to continue contributing in every possible way to the normalization of Russian-American relations,” the statement added.

Trump could still ramp up sanctions on Moscow to pressure it into accepting the US ceasefire deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC News in an interview on Thursday.

When asked if there were further financial measures that Washington could take, Bessent said the Trump administration would not hesitate to nearly double sanctions pressure on Russia, compared to the restrictions imposed under former US President Joe Biden.

”If we just take a kind of a scale zero to 10… the Biden administration sanctions on Russia were probably a three, on the way out of the door they took them to a 6,” he replied.

”We wouldn't hesitate to take them up to 10,” Bessent said.

Moscow wants Trump’s special envoy on the Ukraine conflict, Keith Kellogg excluded from the ceasefire talks, NBC News wrote on Thursday, citing anonymous US and Russian officials.

Kellogg was absent from both the high-level US-Russian negotiations in Riyadh, and later US-Ukrainian talks in Jeddah.

”Kellogg is a former American general, too close to Ukraine. Not our kind of person, not of the caliber we are looking for,” a Russian official reportedly told NBC news, speaking anonymously.

A US official confirmed that the Kremlin did not want the former general involved.

The Trump administration sent US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff as part of Washington’s delegation to this week’s ceasefire talks in Moscow.

The Trump administration has allowed a general license permitting European countries to buy Russian oil and gas to lapse, as leverage in ongoing talks, Fox News White House correspondent Edward Lawrence has said, citing an anonymous official.

The exception expired on Wednesday, according to the copy made publicly available by the US Treasury.

The license allowed European states to buy oil and gas from Russia and pay through Russian financial institutions without facing US sanctions.

Washington is using the intentional lapse to put pressure on Moscow in the ceasefire negotiations, Lawrence wrote, citing the anonymous source.

US President Donald Trump has brushed aside suggestions that Russia could attack American allies in Europe.

He made the statement at a press conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, when asked about some countries’ fears of being attacked in the event of peace in the Ukraine conflict.

”Nope, I don't see that happening,” he replied.

”I think when this gets done, it's done. They’re going to all want to go home and rest,” he said.