Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that “there is a good chance” to end the war with Russia after Ukraine and the United States (U.S.) proposed a 30-day ceasefire, to which Moscow responded that it would agree only if certain conditions were met.
Zelenskyy noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would try to stall negotiations on the ceasefire and called on the U.S. and other Ukrainian allies to put pressure on Russia.
After talks in Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine accepted the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, while Putin said he agreed with the proposal in principle but that “there are nuances.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia agrees in principle with the US proposal for a ceasefire, but conditions need to be worked out, stressing that this should pave the way for a lasting peace.
“We agree with the proposals to stop the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that a ceasefire should lead to a lasting peace and eliminate the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.
Putin noted that Ukrainian troops are surrounded in their last stronghold in the Russian border region of Kursk and that it is necessary to determine before a ceasefire whether they will lay down their arms and surrender.
He also stressed that it is necessary to develop a mechanism to control possible ceasefire violations. Another question, he added, is whether Ukraine will use the 30-day ceasefire to continue mobilizing and rearming.
