Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he was in principle with an American proposal for an 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but he pointed out that the terms must still be developed and added that any truce should pave the way for lasting peace.
The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it, “said Putin at a press conference in Moscow. But there are problems we have to discuss, and I think we have to talk about it with our American colleagues and partners and, perhaps, have a call with President Trump and discuss it with him.”
President Donald Trump said there had been good signals out of Russia and offered the optimism kept on the statement of Poutines. He reiterated that he was ready to speak with Putin and stressed that it was time to end the war.
Putin “published a very promising statement, but it was not over, said Trump on Thursday at the start of a meeting in the White House with NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte,. Now was going to see if Russia there. And if this is not the case, it will be a very disappointing moment for the world.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin is essentially preparing to reject the ceasefire.
Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war, that he wants to kill Ukrainians, Zelenskyy said in his night speech to the nation. This is why, in Moscow, they surround the idea of ​​a ceasefire with such prior conditions that nothing will come from it or at least, it will be delayed as long as possible.
The Russian president, he added, often acts in this way. It does not say purely and simple, but guarantees that everything is dragged and that normal solutions become impossible.
Putin, who launched the large -scale invasion From Ukraine more than three years ago, noted the need to control the possible offenses of the truce and indicated that Russia would seek to guarantee that Ukraine would not use the rupture of hostilities to rearm and continue to mobilize.
We agree with the proposals to stop the fighting, but we procure the hypothesis that the cease-fire should lead to lasting peace and eliminate the deep causes of the crisis, said Putin.
The Russian chief made these remarks just a few hours after the arrival of Trumps Special Envé, Steve Witkoffin Moscow for talks on the ceasefirethat Ukraine has accepted. A Kremlin advisor said Putin had planned to meet Witkoff later Thursday.
Diplomatic effort coincided with a Russian affirmation that its troops have chased the Ukrainian army of a key city in Border region of the course of RussiaWhere Moscow has been trying for seven months to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their foot.
Russia Questions Details of the Trêve offer
Putin said he seemed that the United States has persuaded Ukraine to accept a cease-fire and that Ukraine is interested due to the battlefield situation, especially in Kursk.
Referring to the Ukrainian troops of Kursk, he asked what will happen to them if the ceasefire settles: all those who are there will come out without fighting? Or will the Ukrainian leaders order them to sleep with arms and surrender? “”
Putin thanked Trump for having paid so much attention to the regulation in Ukraine.
He also thanked the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa for their noble mission to end the fighting, a statement suggesting that these countries could be involved in a cease-fire contract. Russia said it would not accept Peace headphones of all NATO members To monitor a potential truce.
Putin's apparently friendly tone towards the White House reflected the amazing change in American relations with Russia and Ukraine since Trump returned to work in January.
Under the administration of former president Joe Biden, the United States was the most faithful and powerful ally of Ukraine and a force to isolate the Kremlin. But Trump's elections have thrown this inverted policy.
Trump briefly cut Critical military aid And Intelligence In an apparent effort to push Kyiv to participate in talks to end the war, and Zelenskyy had a breathtaking meeting in the White House on February 28 in which Trump wondered if Ukraine wanted to interrupt war.
The Trump administration also has repeatedly Kremlin's positions embraced On the conflict, in particular by indicating that the hopes of Ukraine to join NATO are unlikely to be made and that it will probably not return the ground that the Russian army occupies, which represents almost 20% of the country.
The Russian Defense Ministries claim to have taken over the city of Sudzha, a Ukrainian operations center in Kursk, came a few hours after Putin visited her commanders in the Kursk region. The complaint could not be checked independently. Ukrainian officials have made no immediate comments.
The administration repeats the threat of new sanctions
While Trump is looking for a diplomatic end in war, he made veiled threats to strike Russia with new sanctions if it does not engage in peace efforts.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that Trump was willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides, including sanctions that reach the highest scale in Russia.
The United States still has approximately $ 3.85 billion in funding authorized by the congress for future arms shipments in Ukraine, but the Trump administration has so far shown no interest in using this authority to send additional weapons because it awaits the result of peace openings.
By signaling its opening to a ceasefire at a time when the Russian army has the upper hand in the war, Ukraine has presented a dilemma to the Kremlin Whether it is to accept a truce and abandon hopes to make new gains, or to reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian waiting point in Russia has been under intense pressure For months from the renewed effort of the Russian forces, Supported by North Korean troops. The daring incursion of Ukraine last August led to the first Russian soil occupation by foreign troops since the Second World War and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Ukraine launched the RAID in order to counter the constantly dark news of the front line, as well as to divert the Russian troops from the battlefield inside Ukraine and to win a negotiation program in all peace discussions. But the foray did not significantly modify the dynamics of war.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington based reflection group, assessed on Wednesday evening that Russian forces controlled Sudzha, a city close to the border which housed around 5,000 people.
Ukraines, the military commander of the Ukraines, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russian planes had made many strikes on Kursk that Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment if Ukraine still controlled the colony, but said that his country was maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.
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The writer Associated Press Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow the APS coverage of war in Ukraine in https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
