Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he was in principle with an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in UkraineBut that the terms must be developed, and he stressed that he should open the way to lasting peace.
“The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin said at a press conference in Moscow.
“But there are problems we have to discuss, and I think we have to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners,” he said, adding that he could discuss these details in another telephone conversation with President Trump.
Putin noted that Ukrainian troops are surrounded during their last foot in the Russian Kursk region, and said it would be necessary to determine before a cease-fire if they would dismiss weapons and go. He also noted the need to develop a mechanism to control the possible offenses of the truce, although the Kremlin has repeatedly excluded Western troops deployed in Ukraine as a soldiers of peace.
“We agree with the proposals to stop the fighting, but we give the hypothesis that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and eliminate the deep causes of the crisis,” said Putin, who has always blamed War and its large -scale invasion This sparked him on Ukraine.
He said that even if the United States had apparently persuaded Ukraine to accept a cease-fire, kyiv was interested in a truce due to the battlefield situation.
“Under these conditions, I think it would be good for the Ukrainian part to get a cease-fire for at least 30 days,” he said.
Putin spoke for hours after the arrival of a senior American envoy to Moscow to discuss the 30-day ceasefire offered in the United States, and less than a day after having made a first visit to his commanders in Kursk, carrying military fatigue and promising the full recovery of the region.
On Wednesday, an American official confirmed to CBS News that Russian troops had made “important gains” in Kursk during last week. Russia has maneuvered to surround the Ukrainian forces that launched a surprise foray into the Kursk months ago, and they managed to do so since Ukrainians will soon have to decide CBS News to CBS News in Ukraine, or be cut off from their supply lines.
The renewed Russian military thrust and the very publicized visit of Putin to his troops in Kursk occurred in the mid -exhaust of Mr. Trump for a rapid diplomatic end to the War triggered by the large -scale invasion of Russia On February 24, 2022. The United States raised its suspension of military aid on March 3 on Tuesday and sharing intelligence for kyiv after senior American and Ukrainian officials progressed on how to stop fights during talks held in Saudi Arabia.
“It is Russia now,” Trump said Mr. Trump, while his administration pushes Moscow to accept the ceasefire. The American president made veiled threats to strike Russia with new sanctions if she refuses to engage with her peace efforts, saying Wednesday that “in a financial sense, we could do things very badly for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do this because I want to see peace.”
The white house’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Mr. Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine Steve Witkoff went to Moscow for Russian officials, perhaps including Putin. His plane landed in Moscow Thursday morning, but his schedule was not revealed.
Kremlin’s foreign policy assistant Yuri Ushakov said after meeting US national security advisor Mike Waltz on Thursday, who was with Witkoff in Moscow, that the American proposal for a month-long ceasefire did not take into account the position of Russia and need to rework, according to the Russian media.
“The document, it seems to me, has a hasty character,” said Ushakov, according to Russia’s news agency, Russia, “
will be necessary to work, think and take into account our position also. He only describes the Ukrainian approach. “”
The Kremlin has excluded on several occasions by accepting any agreement which sees the Western forces deployed in Ukraine to help maintain peace, which many European nations have declared will be necessary, although only Great Britain and France have suggested any desire to do so.
By signaling her Opening to a ceasefireUkraine presented to the Kremlin a dilemma at a time when the Russian army has the upper hand in the war – whether it is to accept a truce and abandon the hope of making new gains, or of rejecting the offer and risking a prudent rapprochement with Washington.
The foot of the Ukrainian army in Russia has undergone intense pressure for months after a renewed effort of the Russian forces, supported by the 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.
But given the recent Russian advances, Putin did not look like a man who was interested in ordering his forces to link their weapons on Wednesday while visiting troops in Kursk, carrying military fatigue and a discussion strategy with his commanders. He said he expected the army “completely released the enemy Kursk region in the near future”.
Russian pool / Reuters
Putin added that in the future, “it is necessary to think of creating a security zone alongside the state border”, in a signal that Moscow could try to extend its territorial gains by capturing parts of the Sumy region close to Ukraine. This idea could complicate a ceasefire agreement.
Ukraine launched the summer raid to Kursk in order to counter the increasing news of the front of the front line, as well as to keep Russian troops from the battlefield inside Ukraine and win a negotiation program in all peace talks. But the foray has failed to considerably change the dynamics of war.
On Wednesday, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday that Russian aviation had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that, consequently, Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment if Ukraine still controlled the colony, but said that it “was maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines”.
Meanwhile, Major-General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of the operational command in northern Ukraine, which includes the Kursk region, was rejected from his post, he told the Ukrainian media on Wednesday. He said at the point of sale that he had no reason for his dismissal, saying “I suppose, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
Tucker Reals, Eleanor Watson and Holly Williams contributed to this report.
