Russian President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday did not rule out US and Ukraine’s proposals for a month-long ceasefire, but he set many conditions that are most likely to delay the ceasefire.
Putin’s comments at the press conference highlighted the balance he was trying to attack, continued his talks with the US, and while still not letting President Trump get upset, he also spurred confidence in Russia’s position on the battlefield. The US president has emerged as Putin’s key geopolitical partner, hostile to the country’s allies and reorganized US foreign policy in Russia’s favor.
In his sharp remarks that day, Ukrainian President Volodymia Zelensky said that Russian leaders had set a huge number of conditions, saying “nothing will work, or not work for as long as possible.”
Putin’s comments came before he met with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkov, to discuss the ceasefire proposal that Ukraine had already agreed to. As of Moscow time early on Friday, the Kremlin had not commented on how the meeting progressed. However, the Kremlin said Putin spoke about Ukraine with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto leader of Saudi Arabia.
Putin’s remarks came as Russia maintained its momentum in a key battle in Russia’s Kursk region. There, Moscow troops emerged nearby to drive Ukraine out of territory seized last summer. Such developments will reduce Kiev’s leverage in future peace negotiations.
“The idea itself is the right thing and we definitely support it,” Putin said, referring to the ceasefire proposal. “But I think there are questions that we need to discuss and we need to discuss them with our American colleagues and partners.”
Putin suggested that his conditions included restrictions on Ukraine’s ability to mobilize more troops and import weapons during the ceasefire.
Putin’s comments were the first to comment on the offer of a ceasefire that emerged from negotiations between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia this week. They suggested that Russian leaders view the proposal as part of wider negotiations between Washington and Moscow, and were eager to show that Putin is engaged in Trump’s efforts to end the war that he began with his full-scale infringement three years ago.
“I’ll call President Trump and talk to him,” Putin said. When asked if he would talk to the Russian president later Thursday, Trump said he would “want to meet him.”
“I want to see a ceasefire from Russia,” Trump told reporters when he met with NATO executive director Mark Latte in his oval office.
Trump said the US discussed the possibility of Ukraine’s concessions as part of the peace deal. “We have discussed the land and land of Ukrainians that are maintained and lost, and all the other elements of the final agreement,” Trump added, “many of the details of the final agreement are actually being discussed.”
Putin appears eager to remain on the good side of Trump given the geopolitical victory the US president has already delivered to the Kremlin.
But Putin’s comments also showed that Russian leaders saw his troops as having an advantage on the battlefield, and that eliciting negotiations lies in Russia’s advantage.
He said Thursday that Russia will continue to insist on a peace deal that addresses the “inventive causes” of the war — it was not clear whether he would create a provision for a month-long ceasefire, including reducing the presence of NATO in Eastern Europe, but suggests that his decline in his presence in Eastern Europe has not changed.
Zelensky called Putin’s response to the proposal for a ceasefire “very predictable and very manipulative.”
“Of course, President Putin is afraid to directly tell President Trump that he wants to continue this war and kill Ukrainians,” he said in an evening speech.
Putin was easy to declare that he would affirm that Ukraine was better than Russia.
“In these conditions, a ceasefire for 30 days seems to be very good for the Ukrainian side,” Putin said. “And we stand for that. But there’s a nuance.”
He then listed those “nuances.” He said Russia would not allow those troops to retreat peacefully, and that Ukrainian leaders could instead order them to “simply surrender.”
Ukraine surprised Russia with a cross-border invasion into Kursk in August, seizing hundreds of square miles of territory.
However, the Russian defense ministry said Thursday that it had regained full control of Skascha, the main town of Kursk seized by Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed a retreat from the town where Kiev’s troops reported fierce fighting on Wednesday night. If confirmed, such a hideout leaves only a small pocket of Russian land along the border under Ukrainian control.
Putin also suggested that Ukraine’s western allies may demand that weapons be suspended, and said it is not clear how to monitor the ceasefire along the 700-mile frontline.
“These are all questions that require very careful research,” he said.
Putin’s terms may not be possible for Ukraine to accept, but since last year, a ceasefire has not repeated his troublesome demand that Ukraine rely on withdrawal from four Ukrainian regions that Russia declared as itself but had no complete control.
Still, Dara Mashikot, a Russian military expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Fund for International Peace, has been called “very dangerous to Ukraine,” called Putin’s new demand.
In effect, Putin argued that while Russian factories pumped new weapons, the West was pushing for a scenario where they couldn’t help rebuild Ukrainian forces.
“What Putin said today means that the West cannot support Ukraine while Russia is revitalizing,” she said.
The report was contributed by Maria Valenikova from Kiev, Ukraine. Mark Soundtrack from Dnipro, Ukraine. Paul Sonne of Berlin. Eric Schmidt of Washington.
