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Vladimir Putin has struck a hard line over any deal to halt the fighting in Ukraine, even as he said he “supports the idea” behind a US-backed 30-day ceasefire.
The Russian president said at a press conference on Thursday that any ceasefire must lead to a final settlement of the conflict that would “solve the root causes” of his invasion.
“The idea in itself is correct, and we support it unconditionally. But there are issues that we must discuss, and I think we need to discuss them with our American colleagues and partners,” he said.
Putin added that Ukraine’s forces would otherwise be given a chance to retreat, regroup and re-arm just as Russia’s army is gaining the upper hand in the Kursk region, parts of which were captured by Kyiv last year.
US and Ukrainian delegations agreed in a meeting in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss a proposal for an interim 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and in the air. The two delegations also agreed to begin negotiations “toward an enduring peace that provides for Ukraine’s long-term security”.
“Does that mean Ukraine will use those 30 days to continue forced mobilisation, get weapons supplies and prepare its mobilised units?” Putin asked.
Moscow’s previous demands would in effect end Ukraine’s existence as a functioning state and place it squarely in Russia’s orbit while severely limiting Nato’s presence east of Germany.
Putin has called for Ukraine to recognise Russia’s annexation of four partially occupied south-eastern regions and the Crimean peninsula, withdraw its troops from those areas and pledge to never join Nato as preconditions for the ceasefire.
Russia is also pushing for caps on Ukraine’s military, protections for Russian speakers in the country and fresh elections to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It has demanded an effective rollback of Nato’s eastward expansion since the cold war, which Putin has claimed forced him to order his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
US President Donald Trump described Putin’s comments as a “very promising statement” but “incomplete”, adding that his team was having “very serious discussions” with the Russian president.
“I’d love to meet with him and talk to him but we have to get it over with fast,” Trump said at an Oval Office meeting with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, referring to remarks in which Putin said he would probably speak to his US counterpart.
In an apparent reference to territorial concessions by Kyiv, the US president added that Washington had discussed with Ukraine “pieces of land that would be kept and lost” as well as who would get energy assets and other details.
“A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed and now we are going to see whether or not Russia is there,” Trump said. “If they are not, it will be a very disappointing moment for the world.”
Putin said Moscow also had concerns over how any ceasefire would be implemented and monitored on the battlefield, where he said Russia’s forces were “advancing practically everywhere” along the nearly 1,000km frontline.
“We will agree on how to end the conflict and find an acceptable agreement for everyone based on how the situation develops on the ground,” he said.
He expressed confidence that his forces’ “breakthroughs in Kursk” and elsewhere on the frontline would continue.
Elina Ribakova, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the Russian president did not want to be blamed for standing in the way of Trump’s deal but did not feel pressure to “back off from its maximalist demands”.
She added: “They want to play a game of chicken with the US, to see what [Trump] will do if Russia pretends to play ball and proposes a highly conditional ‘unconditional ceasefire’.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, is in Moscow ahead of expected talks with the Russian president over the war in Ukraine and normalising US-Russia relations.
Putin on Thursday also suggested the US and Russia were negotiating over securing gas supplies for Europe, following FT reporting that his close friend Matthias Warnig is engineering a restart of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe with the backing of US investors.
“If the US and Russia reach an agreement on energy, then the gas pipe for Europe will be secure. This will be useful for Europe because it will get cheap Russian gas,” he said.
