US negotiators met Vladimir Putin in late-night Moscow talks on the Ukraine war before discussions moved to the UAE.

MOSCOW, Jan 22 () - The Kremlin said on Thursday that it appreciated U. envoy Steve ​Witkoff's diplomatic efforts to end the war ‌in Ukraine, but declined to comment on Witkoff's stated optimism ‌that a deal was close.

The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was 'nearly ready' and that he and United States President Donald Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.

Moscow is willing to contribute $1 billion to President Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, but that would require unfreezing Russian assets held in the United States, President Vladimir V. Putin said on Thursday.

You might think a cascade of allies being destabilized or imploding would prompt a more robust response in Moscow. But the less-than-thundering public statements from Russian officials – not to mention crickets from Vladimir Putin – about events in Venezuela and Iran has raised eyebrows.

A Moscow region appellate court on Thursday upheld a four-year prison sentence for a 17-year-old girl who hung up posters at her school showing Russian paramilitary fighters serving alongside the Ukrainian armed forces.

Moscow is currently studying the proposal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to state news agency TASS.