Putin suggests US ceasefire plan for Ukraine needs serious reworking
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia supports a United States proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in principle, but has sought a number of clarifications and conditions that appear to rule out a quick end to the fighting.
Putin’s heavily qualified support for the plan looked designed to signal goodwill to Washington and open the door to further talks with US President Donald Trump. But Putin said many crucial details needed to be sorted out and any agreement must address the root causes of the conflict.
“So the idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin says any ceasefire needs to remove the “root causes” of the crisis.Credit: AP
He noted the need to develop a mechanism to control possible breaches of the truce. Another issue, he said, was whether Ukraine could use the 30-day ceasefire to rearm.
“We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.
Putin made the remarks just hours after the arrival of Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow for talks on the ceasefire proposal, which Ukraine has accepted.
Firefighters put out a fire at a damaged building after a Russian strike in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
Trump, who said he was willing to talk to the Russian leader by phone, called Putin’s statement “very promising” and said he hoped Moscow would “do the right thing”.
The diplomatic effort coincided with a Russian claim that its troops had driven the Ukrainian army out of a key town in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has been trying for seven months to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their foothold.
Putin said it appeared that the US persuaded Ukraine to accept a ceasefire and that Ukraine was interested because of the battlefield situation, particularly in Kursk.
Referring to the Ukrainian troops in Kursk, he said: “Will all those who are there come out without a fight?”
Putin thanked Trump “for paying so much attention to the settlement in Ukraine”.
He also thanked the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa for their “noble mission to end the fighting”, a statement that signalled those countries’ potential involvement in a ceasefire deal.
Russia has said it will not accept peacekeepers from any NATO members to monitor a prospective truce.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser said the Russian leader planned to meet Witkoff later on Friday.
The Russian Defence Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, a Ukrainian operational hub in Kursk, came hours after Putin visited his commanders in the region. The claim could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops unfolded as Trump seeks a diplomatic end to the war, which began more than three years ago.
On Wednesday, the US lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior American and Ukrainian officials reported making progress on how to stop the fighting during talks in Saudi Arabia.
Trump has said “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it does not engage with peace efforts.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Trump was “willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides”, including sanctions that reached the highest scale on Russia.
Zelensky chides Russia for slow response
Ukraine has expressed its own concerns that Russia will use a truce to regroup and rearm.
President Volodymyr Zelensky chided Russia on the Telegram messaging app for what he said was its slow response to the ceasefire proposal, accusing Moscow of trying to delay any peace deal. He said Ukraine was “determined to move quickly toward peace” and hoped US pressure would compel Russia to stop fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of trying to delay any peace dealCredit: AP
Washington still has about $US3.85 billion ($6.1 billion) in congressionally authorised funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has shown no interest so far in using that authority to send additional weapons as it awaits the outcome of peace overtures.
By signalling its openness to a ceasefire at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma – whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from the renewed effort by Russian forces backed by North Korean troops. Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Reuters, AP
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