"During the call, there was a signal from Mr. Witkoff, who was also on the call, that Russia is ready to end the war, or at least to make a first step toward a ceasefire, and that this was the first such signal from them," Zelenskyy said. "Everyone on the call felt positive about this -- that there was some kind of shift."

Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a further offensive despite Donald Trump's hopes that their upcoming Alaska summit can bring peace in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian president said Monday his country's intelligence service had found that Putin had no intention of ending the fighting,