- Russia's President Putin said he is open to a ceasefire but still has some questions about the deal.
- Earlier this week U.S. and Ukrainian officials agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposal between Russia and Ukraine.
- Russia is also accelerating its push to reclaim territory in the Kursk region in Russia.
During a news conference on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to the idea of a ceasefire but that he has conditions that must be met before he will agree to a deal.
These comments from Putin come after U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and came up with a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
On Thursday, U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow to meet with Russian leaders, according to The New York Times.
Earlier this week, Trump made threats of sanctions against Russia.
“I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia,” Trump said on Wednesday, according to NBC. “I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”
Even with these threats, the president has publicly asked for few concessions from Russia, but has suggested that Ukraine will have to concede to many of the Kremlin’s demands.
What did Putin say about the ceasefire proposal?
“The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it,” Putin said, according to The New York Times. “But there are questions that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partners.”
According to NBC, Putin also said that he may need to have a phone call with Trump. Thursday’s news conference was the first time the Kremlin had publicly addressed the ceasefire proposal drafted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian leaders earlier this week.
One of Putin’s concerns with the ceasefire proposal is that it would give Ukrainian forces a chance to regroup. He added that certain details need to be considered, such as who would monitor and guarantee the truce.
According to NBC, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, also spoke to press and called the proposed plan “nothing else than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more.”
Ushakov added that Russia’s goal “is still a long-term peaceful settlement ... that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country,” per NBC.
Putin has always had big demands in order for the war to end. His demands include Ukraine withdrawing from regions partially occupied by Russia and also promising to never join NATO and to preserve Russian language and culture in Ukraine.
Russia’s push to recover Kursk
Russian troops are working to drive Ukraine from the territory in the Kursk region of Russia that it seized last year, according to The New York Times. If Russia is able to take the territory back it would rid Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of a key bargaining chip for negotiations.
After Trump froze military and intelligence aid to Ukraine on March 3, Russia’s push in Kursk seemed to accelerate.
Early on Thursday Putin visited soldiers in the Kursk region, and urged them to recover the territory quickly and decisively.
“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible time frame, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region,” Putin said, according to NBC.
The Russian president also suggested that they create “a security zone” on the border.