President Putin supports us with a ceasefire plan, but insists on long-term peace guarantees to address the underlying causes of the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with the idea of a 30-day US-backed ceasefire in Ukraine, but noted that the details of the agreement should be discussed and that the armistice should lead to long-term peace.
“We agree with the proposal to stop hostilities,” Putin told reporters at a press conference in the Kremlin on Thursday after consultations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“But this halt goes from the fact that it should be something that leads to long-term peace and eliminates the original cause of this crisis,” he said.
“The idea itself is correct and we certainly support it. But there are issues that need to be discussed,” Putin said. “And I think we need to talk to our American colleagues too,” he said.
Shortly after Putin’s remarks, US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Putin’s statement was “very promising” but “not perfect,” and he was willing to meet and talk to Russian leaders.
He said Special US envoy Steve Witkov had been seriously debated with Russian officials in Moscow about the ceasefire proposal.
Next Steps
Putin’s comments on a US-backed plan were his first since Ukraine said it would accept the proposal following consultations with US officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Following the meeting, the United States announced it would resume military aid and information sharing with Kiev after a temporary suspension.
While providing support for the ceasefire, Putin also listed a set of issues that he said needed to be clarified.
Reported from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dosa Jabari said Russia wanted to ensure that the ceasefire would not be used as an opportunity to receive arms in Ukrainian forces, particularly in Russia’s Kursk region. Moscow also wanted to discuss who will monitor the armistice, she said.
“Putin said he would speak quickly with the US president to quickly communicate any concerns and questions that are continuing at this point, but for the time being he has made clear that Russia is in favor of ending the conflict, but that clearly needs to be their terms,” Jabbari said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Kiev and its European allies accusing the assault as an act of attack on sovereign states.
At the time, President Putin described the invasion as a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarizing” Ukraine. The Russian leader also called for Ukraine to become part of the NATO military alliance, demanding that Kiev allow Russia to annex four partially occupied Ukrainian regions in the southeastern part of the country.
Jabari of Al Jazeera said Russia is “seeing a ceasefire as an opportunity to get what it takes to get a long-term settlement in the conflict with Ukraine.”
The gust of diplomatic winds comes as Russian forces continue to advance territorial in eastern Ukraine, recaptured the territory in the Russian region of Kursk, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprising invasion last August.
Analysts said Ukraine had hoped to control the territory and use it as leverage for negotiations, but Russia had stepped up its efforts to regain control last week, with the Kremlin saying on Thursday that Moscow’s operation in Kursk was in its final stages.