US envoy is taking Putin's comments on Ukraine ceasefire proposal to Trump, Kremlin official says

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss details of the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, asking him to convey Moscow's thoughts to Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

Putin asked Witkoff late Thursday to give additional messages to U.S. President Donald Trump, Peskov told reporters, after the Russian leader said at a news conference that he supported a truce in principle but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is agreed.

Trump said the U.S. held “very good and productive” discussions with Putin the day before. In a post on his Truth Social site Friday morning, Trump said “that there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”

Ukraine, under severe military pressure on parts of the front line three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, has already endorsed the truce proposal. Russia’s army has gained battlefield momentum, and analysts say Putin likely will be reluctant to rush into a ceasefire while he feels he has an advantage. The Russian army, backed by North Korean troops, are now close to completely driving Ukrainian forces from their foothold in Russia's Kursk border region in what would be a major setback for Kyiv.

Trump said Friday that “thousands” of Ukrainian troops are surrounded by the Russian military, adding that he has “strongly requested” Putin to spare their lives. Hours later, Putin told the National Security Council that Moscow is willing to do that if Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region lay down arms and surrender.

Ukraine's General Staff, however, denied Friday that its forces in Kursk are encircled by Moscow's troops and said that any reports to that effect were “fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”

A possible phone call between Putin and Trump to settle outstanding ceasefire issues could be arranged after Witkoff delivers the messages in Washington, Peskov said. “There is an understanding on both sides that such a call is needed,” Peskov said.

“There are certainly some grounds for cautious optimism,” Peskov said of the ceasefire proposal. “A lot still needs to be done, but the president has shown solidarity with President Trump’s position.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday he was “cautiously optimistic,” too. Speaking to reporters at the end of a Group of Seven meeting in Canada, Rubio said Trump administration officials plan to spend the weekend debriefing Witkoff on his session with Putin and on next steps.

The talks with Putin did not appear to secure the immediate agreement for a ceasefire that Rubio had said Americans would press Putin for. But, “we certainly feel like we’re at least some steps closer to ending this war,” Rubio said.

U.S. officials have said Washington was set to discuss technical issues related to a possible ceasefire next week. Given the range of issues on the table, and the sharp differences between what Moscow and Kyiv want, it could potentially take weeks or months for the guns to fall silent.

Trump vowed during his election campaign to settle the war in 24 hours, but in January he changed that timeframe, voicing hope that peace could be negotiated in six months.

Putin’s apparently amicable tone toward the White House reflects the remarkable shift in U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine since Trump returned to office in January. Former President Joe Biden had sought to isolate Putin.

During a speech Friday at the U.S. Department of Justice, Trump said a ceasefire that could halt fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine could be close at hand. He also praised his relationship with Putin and seemed to suggest that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, saying, “You don’t want to pick on somebody that’s a lot larger than you.”

Trump has threatened both Russia and Ukraine with punitive measures if they don’t engage with his peace efforts.

Trump briefly cut off critical military aid and intelligence sharing in an apparent effort to push Kyiv to enter talks on ending the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a tense meeting at the White House on Feb. 28 in which Trump questioned whether Ukraine wanted to halt the war.

Trump has raised the possibility of tightening sanctions on Russia, though his administration has also repeatedly embraced Kremlin positions on the conflict, including indicating that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO are unlikely to be realized and that it probably will not get back the land that Russia’s army occupies, which amounts to nearly 20% of the country.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses downed four Ukrainian drones attacking the Russian capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. One damaged the roof of an apartment building a few kilometers (miles) from the Kremlin.

Several other buildings were lightly damaged by drone fragments, but there were no injuries, according to emergency officials.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with reporters following the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, on Friday, March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, March 14, 2025, Abandoned Ukrainian ammunition lie at an area in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, March 14, 2025, Russian soldiers patrol an area in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, a view of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, a view of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Investigators look at the damage of an apartment building where the downed Ukrainian drone fell in Sapronovo village outside Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, a view of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Municipal workers investigate the place after a downed Ukrainian drone damaged a building in western Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, Russian soldiers walk between ruins of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, a view of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, March 13, 2025, a view of a street of Sudzha, the biggest town in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a civilian hospital following a Russian drone attack in Zolochiv, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

A law enforcement officer works to gather fragments of a downed Ukrainian drone at a building in western Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, March 14, 2025, A destroyed Ukrainian Army tank is seen at Cherkasskoe Porechnoe and Pravda in Sudzha district of the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken over by Russian troops. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at a civilian hospital following a Russian drone attack in Zolochiv, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico court granted a temporary restraining order Monday against the release of certain records related to the investigation into the recent deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.

The order is in response to a request by Julia Peters, a representative for the couple's estate. She urged in a motion filed last week that the court seal records in the case to protect the family’s right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Peters emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media.

A hearing has been scheduled for later this month to argue the merits of the request. For now, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and the state Office of the Medical Investigator cannot release photographs and videos showing the couple’s bodies or the interior of their home, autopsy reports or death investigation reports.

Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe home in late February. Authorities have confirmed that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease about a week after hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare, rodent-borne disease — took the life of his wife.

The request to seal the records notes that the couple placed “a significant value on their privacy and took affirmative vigilant steps” to safeguard their privacy over their lifetime, including after they moved to Santa Fe and Hackman retired. The state capital is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

“The personal representative seeks to continue to preserve the privacy of the Hackmans following their tragic death and support the family's constitutional right to remembrance and desire to grieve in peace,” the document states.

New Mexico’s open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of people who are deceased. Experts also say that some medical information is not considered public record under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.

Still, the bulk of death investigations by law enforcement and autopsy reports by medical investigators are typically considered public records under state law in the spirit of ensuring government transparency and accountability.

Privacy likely will play a role as well as the couple's estate gets settled. According to probate court documents filed earlier this month, Hackman signed an updated will in 2005 leaving his estate to his wife while the will she signed that same year directed her estate to him in the event of her death. With both of them dying, management of the estate is in the hands of Peters, a Santa Fe-based attorney and trust manager.

A request is pending to appoint a trustee who can administer assets in two trusts associated with the estate. Without trust documents being made public, it's unclear who the beneficiaries are and how the assets will be divided.

Attorneys who specialize in estate planning in New Mexico say it's possible more details could come out if there were any legal disputes over the assets. Even then, they said, the parties likely would ask the court to seal the documents to maintain privacy.

Santa Fe County deputies remain outside the house belonging to actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were earlier found dead, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)