Russia says there are "grounds for optimism" over a ceasefire deal with Ukraine, but there is "a lot ahead to be done"
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterates that Vladimir Putin still needs answers, after the Russian president raised several questions about how a US-brokered truce would work
US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin on Thursday, the Kremlin confirms – and is now on his way back to the US with information to pass to President Donald Trump
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin's response was "manipulative" and called for more sanctions on Russia to force a deal
Both Russia and Ukraine reported new enemy drone attacks late on Thursday and overnight – with several injured in Kharkiv and an oil facility hit in Russia's south
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Watch: Putin responds to US ceasefire proposal
Edited by Elaine Okyere and Tinshui Yeung
Ben Tavener
Moscow producer
Peskov pictured earlier this week
In a brief call with reporters, the Kremlin has confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin late last night and stated – emphatically – that the Russian leader’s position is aligned with Donald Trump’s, albeit with some work ahead for both sides.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told us that Russia "was given additional information" by Witkoff, and that President Putin had in turn given him "information and additional signal for President Trump".
President Putin "agreed" and "expressed solidarity" with President Trump’s position, Peskov said, but pointed to yesterday’s press conference in which the Kremlin leader had "voiced a number of questions that need to be answered together… There’s still a lot ahead to be done".
The Kremlin shared the "cautious optimism" expressed by US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz over the Ukraine peace process, Peskov said.
It appears the Kremlin still wants to convey a willingness, a constructiveness, emphasising a shared vision with the White House, on the face of it.
But equally, it is clear it will not be cornered into a hasty decision.
Once again, the Kremlin says: we agree, in principle, but let’s wait and see.
We can now bring you details of another question that was posed to the Kremlin this morning after media reports that Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was removed from peace talks at the request of Russia.
NBC News cited a US administration official and a Russian official in their report.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuses to confirm – adding that it would be "absurd" to suggest Russia is interfering in US affairs.
"We’re building relations on basis of mutual respect. It’s their decision who they appoint."
Some more now from the Kremlin spokesperson who has been addressing media this morning.
Asked about potential talks between President Trump and President Putin, the spokesperson says there is "no exact time" that has been agreed for those.
However, they add, talks can be arranged once Trump has been informed by Witkoff about the talks in Moscow.
The spokesperson says there is an "understanding" on both sides that talks need to take place. 
Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent
The Kremlin has confirmed that Steve Witkoff, the US envoy, was in Moscow and held a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, says "Russia was given additional information" at the meeting, and Vladimir Putin gave his own "information and additional signals for President Trump".
He says the two leaders did plan to talk, but would only agree timings once Witkoff had returned and briefed the US president.
A Kremlin spokesman has indicated there is "cautious optimism" following Putin's statement on a potential ceasefire yesterday.
Speaking to journalists in a daily news briefing, Dmitry Peskov says: "There is a lot ahead to be done but the Putin expressed his solidarity with Trump’s position".
He repeated Putin's point that there are still "questions" over how this would work moving forward.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha during a press briefing, in Warsaw, Poland earlier this week
Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs says Vladimir Putin's comments about the ceasefire plan show the Russian president "seeks to continue the war".
In a post on X, Andrii Sybiha says: "This is the difference. Ukraine said 'yes' to US ceasefire proposal. Because Ukraine wants peace. Putin, rather than saying 'yes', puts forward various conditions."
"Ukraine seeks an end to the war. Putin seeks to continue the war. The rest of his words are just a smokescreen."
As we've reported, Putin has said he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire but that "questions" remain about the truce. We'll get into some of the obstacles he's raised shortly.
In an update, Russia's Ministry of Defence says they intercepted and destroyed 28 Ukrainian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) overnight.
That figure includes four over Moscow, five over Belgorod and one over the Black Sea.
In an earlier update, we brought you news from Russia that an oil facility had been attacked. There's more on that in our previous post.
Steve Witkoff with his boss back in January
We're still trying to confirm whether Trump's Middle East envoy held talks with Russian President Putin yesterday evening. While we do that, we'll answer this: who is Steve Witkoff?
Age: 67 (68 tomorrow)
Job: US Middle East envoy
Background: Raised in Long Island, New York, billionaire businessman Witkoff trained as a real estate developer in one of America's most cut-throat markets
Relationship with President Trump: A long-time Republican donor, he has known Trump for decades. "The president sees Steve as one of the world's great dealmakers," a White House official told Axios. The two men are also long-time golfing companions
Diplomacy: Witkoff doesn't have a diplomacy background. But, he was in Moscow in February to help facilitate a deal that saw the US and Russia swap prisoners, and played a part in brokering the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. He was also in Saudi Arabia, for the first US-Russian face-to-face talks over the war in Ukraine
Relationship with President Putin: Witkoff met Putin in February "for a very extended period, like about three hours" in Trump's words, and Russian media say they had another meeting on Thursday
As soon as we know what happened in the meeting, you'll know too.
Witkoff pictured at the White House last week
Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow yesterday to try and convince Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire.
He'd been due to hold talks with Russian officials – but we haven't had confirmation from the Kremlin or US officials on whether any meetings took place with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But here's what we can piece together:
Witkoff was seen leaving the US embassy in Moscow after spending about an hour inside on Thursday, according to reports in Russian media.
On Friday, Russia's state-run media said the air traffic monitoring website Flightradar had showed a plane believed to be carrying Witkoff had left Vnukovo Airport in Moscow on Thursday evening. The BBC has been unable to verify these reports.
We might learn more at the Kremlin's daily news conference soon.
As the map above shows, Russian forces have slowly expanded the amount of territory they control over the past year, mostly in the east of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the Russian region of Kursk (which Ukraine invaded last August and held part of as a bargaining chip) Putin now claims Russia is back "in control" and Ukrainian troops there have been isolated.
The head of Ukraine's military, Oleksandr Syrsky, has also indicated that some of its troops were withdrawing from Kursk.
We have more maps showing the latest status of territory in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian air force has said Russia launched 27 drones towards the country overnight – with air defence systems successfully shooting down 16.
Nine did not reach their target and have since been located with "no negative consequences", the air force adds this morning.
Kharkiv and Donetsk were both affected, it says.
Earlier, we brought you details shared by Ukrainian officials on injuries.Sarah Rainsford
Eastern Europe Correspondent
Putin at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart yesterday
Vladimir Putin has no interest in stopping his war right now, and he’s made that clear in his response to Donald Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire.
Putin doesn’t want to insult Trump.
He wants to sound reasonable. And he wants to be dealing directly with America on this, through phone calls – or even talks.
But his priority is to protect what he sees as Russia’s interests on the ground.
Most immediately – that means ending the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, in southern Russia, which infuriated, even humiliated, Putin.
The Kremlin says it’s making gains there – and it won’t want to stop now.
Then there’s the bigger picture. Putin’s response to the ceasefire call so far suggests that he intends to push for everything he’s always wanted in Ukraine – which means its full subjugation.
No western security guarantees, and no rearming.
So this is test-time for Donald Trump: the man who’s always said Russia will listen to him; that he understands Putin. But the United States wants an immediate halt to the fighting. Russia quite clearly does not.
A little earlier we reported on Ukraine's claims of drone attacks by Russian forces overnight.
Separately, Russia has also reported attacks overnight. The governor of the Krasnodar region in the south, Veniamin Kondratyev, says the Tuapse oil complex was hit.
He writes that a gasoline tank caught fire and as of the early hours of the morning emergency services, including 121 personnel, were working to fight the blaze. He adds that there had been no reports of casualties.
The Reuters news agency reports that the refinery primarily supplies China, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey.
Reuters have also spoken to Ukraine's security service SBU, who say Ukrainian drones struck gas compressor stations in Russia's Tambov and Saratov regions.
A former US diplomat says Russian President Vladimir Putin attaching a number of conditions to the ceasefire deal is a cause for concern.
Rose Gottemoeller, who also served as the Nato deputy secretary general, says: "I always worry when the Russians say 'in principle I support it, but' – that's exactly what we've seen from Putin."
She tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's up to the US to work with their Ukrainian colleagues to call him on that and to say – what do you really need now?"
Gottemoeller says sanctions are a good way to put pressure on Russia. Last night, the US imposed more sanctions on Russia's oil and gas sectors.
"The Russian Federation and Putin himself have intimated they want to be clear of the sanctions that have been imposed on them heavily," she says. "Trump has a a lot of cards to play in terms of ramping up the pressure on Russia."
Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring
There are indications that Russian forces have stepped up efforts to invade Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, building up on their success in Kursk region across the border.
The head of the Sumy regional administration, Volodymyr Artyukh, says that "enemy subversive groups have been trying to enter practically across the whole stretch of the border".
"Their actions have intensified. The Russian army has deployed serious reserves there. That’s why there’s going to be a lot of shelling in the border areas," Artyukh told Ukrainian Suspilne TV, external.
He also says the Russian army has been using more glide bombs and drones to attack the region.
To avoid civilian casualties, the regional defence council has launched the mandatory evacuation, external of eight villages in border areas, or more than 500 people in total.
Laura Gozzi and Paul Kirby
BBC News
Putin was in the Russian region of Kursk recently, where his troops are pushing back Ukrainians who hold parts of the territory
Russia is ready for a halt in fighting, says Vladimir Putin, but "there are nuances".
Those nuances are so key to his thinking they could scupper any hope of a 30-day ceasefire.
They are demands that he has had throughout Russia's full-scale invasion, and before. And for Ukraine and its Western partners, many of them are going to prove unacceptable or impossible to fulfil.
"We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities," he started positively, only to add: "This cessation must be such that it would lead to long-term peace and eliminate the root causes of this crisis."
Nobody would disagree with the need for long-term peace, but Putin's idea of the root causes of the war revolve around Ukraine's desire to exist as a sovereign state, beyond Russia's orbit.
Ukraine wants to be part of Nato and the European Union – so much so, it is enshrined in the constitution.
President Trump has already cast doubt on Nato membership, but Putin has repeatedly dismissed the idea of Ukraine as a state at all.
And that underpins many of the nuances he sketched out.
In essence, Putin is looking for security guarantees in reverse.
An image shared by Ukraine's State Emergency Service of Ukraine – not verified by the BBC – shows a building on fire
Ukraine is reporting this morning on damage and injuries from Russian drone attacks overnight.
Kharkiv's governor Oleh Syniehubov says several people were injured, including children, in the region as a result of a drone falling overnight in an open area.
He also refers to a damaged power line and separately the roof of a local hospital building in Zolochiv burning down – a member of the emergency team was injured, he says.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine adds that the hospital site was hit a second time but that emergency workers managed to get into a shelter.
It comes as total of 146 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces were recorded yesterday, the Ukrainian General Staff says on Facebook this morning.
The US has placed further sanctions on Russian oil, gas and banking sectors, our US partner CBS reported on Thursday,, external citing four people familiar with the plans.
A 60-day exemption had been in place since the Biden administration that allowed certain energy transactions involving sanctioned Russia banks to continue – but on Thursday the US let it lapse.
By letting the exemption lapse, it means banks may no longer access American payment systems to conduct major energy transactions.
Last night, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for further sanctions against Russia to help force a peace deal.
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent, reporting from Quebec
Friday marks the final day of the meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Quebec
Foreign ministers of the G7 group of nations, including the US, UK and other European powers, are meeting for their final day of talks in Canada, following divisions over the wording of a joint statement on Russia and the war in Ukraine.
The Canadian host, foreign minister Melanie Joly, sat next to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said the G7 must back Ukraine against what she called Russia’s aggression.
But the US rejects such public rebukes of Moscow, saying the language is antagonistic when President Donald Trump is trying to get the two sides to agree to an immediate ceasefire.
Previous joint statements by the G7 have contained pages of condemnation of Russia, but today’s is likely to contain little; highlighting the stark division between Europe and the Trump administration over where responsibility for the war should be attributed.
European nations back Trump’s call for a ceasefire, but still believe Moscow should be clearly called out for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Seher Asaf
Live reporter
Fighting continues in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, pictured here on Thursday
Three days after Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the US proposal – but it wasn't a yes or a no. In case you missed it, here's a recap of the key developments:
What did Putin say? He agreed with the idea, but laid out tough conditions and said "questions" remained about the truce. He said the ceasefire should "remove the root causes of this crisis", adding that the country needs to negotiate with the US. "Maybe I'll have a call with Donald Trump," he said.
How did Ukraine respond? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Putin's response as "manipulative" and called for more sanctions on Russia. Putin "doesn't say no directly", he said in his nightly video address, but "in practice, he's preparing a rejection".
Were there talks? Russian officials said Putin was expected to meet US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who had flown to Moscow earlier that day – but it's not clear whether that meeting took place. On Friday, Russia's state-run media quoted the air traffic monitoring website Flightradar as saying the plane believed to be carrying Witkoff had left Moscow.
What happened on the ground? Both Russia and Ukraine reported new enemy drone attacks. Ukraine said seven people – including children – were injured in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. Russia reported a large fire at an oil facility in the southern city of Tuapse.
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