Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday in Moscow, a meeting that stretched to one in the morning, according to Kerry. Although the session centered on Syria and restoring the "cessation of hostilities", spokesperson John Kirby noted that Kerry also raised the issue of Ukraine and "acceleration of negotiations on implementation of the Minsk agreements."

Early Friday before meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Kerry remarked on his time with Putin the previous evening before Putin had to "get on an airplane and fly somewhere":

We also talked, obviously, about Ukraine. And I appreciated President Putin's thoughts. I thought that too was constructive, and I think we have some homework to do, but there is a possibility out of that conversation of actually making some further progress. And I think that would be extremely helpful for all of us. We still have some gaps, and my hope is that in the course of this conversation and work right now we can close those gaps and find a positive way forward.

To date, Russia has shown no sign of backing off that country's annexation of the Crimea and has continued to give "political, military and financial support" to rebels in Ukraine according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in remarks last week (via Reuters):

"Allies are united in their support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Stoltenberg told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "We do not and we will not recognise Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea and we condemn Russia's deliberate destabilisation of eastern Ukraine, where ceasefire violations occur on daily basis. The truce in east Ukraine is patchy and implementation of a broader peace plan -- negotiated in Minsk between Ukraine and Russia by Germany and France -- has been stalled for months. "We call on Moscow to end its political, military and financial support for the separatists. All parties must fully implement the Minsk agreements," Stoltenberg said.

In 2014, Kerry called Russia's actions in Ukraine an "incredible act of aggression" and said the international community should "isolate" Russia:

"You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text," Kerry said.

Kerry did not elaborate Friday on the thoughts of Putin for which he expressed appreciation.