Trump says Moscow more willing to strike a deal than Kyiv

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was more eager than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reach a deal to end the war. "Putin wants to make a deal more than Zelensky," Trump told reporters at the White House, without giving further detail on what led him to that view.

Trump's remark came as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner told Ukrainian representatives in Miami on 9 October that Washington's decision to allow Russian diesel exports was meant to bring Putin back to the negotiating table, French newspaper La Depeche du Midi reported, citing Reuters. The approach did not appear to convince Kyiv's representatives, the paper said.

A source close to the Russian presidency told Reuters that Putin had set a condition for real negotiations: control of the remaining 11% of the Donbas region, most of which is already occupied by Russian forces, La Depeche du Midi reported. Taking the rest of the region would let Moscow present the move domestically as a victory, according to the report.

Ukraine has said it will not cede further territory and is pushing instead for the conflict to be frozen along the current front lines ahead of any peace agreement, La Depeche du Midi reported. Kyiv's position leaves little common ground with the Donbas condition reportedly set by Moscow.

Trump has separately said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an energy ceasefire, though neither side has publicly confirmed it. Trump insisted the ceasefire was still holding even as Zelensky accused Moscow of continuing strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, and said there had been "violations on both sides" when pressed on the continued Russian attacks, according to The Independent.

Trump did not say when he expected a broader deal to be reached, and the White House did not immediately set out further details of the diplomatic effort beyond the Miami meeting.