Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but he emphasized that the terms are yet to be worked out and noted that any truce should pave the way to lasting peace.
βThe idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow. βBut there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk about it with our American colleagues and partners and, perhaps, have a call with President Trump and discuss it with him.”
President Donald Trump said there have been βgood signalsβ coming out of Russia and offered guarded optimism about Putinβs statement. He reiterated that he stood ready to speak with Putin and underscored that it was time to end the war.
Putin “put out a very promising statement, but it wasnβt complete,β Trump said Thursday at a start of a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. βNow weβre going to see whether or not Russiaβs there. And if theyβre not, itβll be a very disappointing moment for the world.β
Putin noted the need to develop mechanisms to control possible breaches of the truce and signaled that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use the break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilization.
βWe agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,β Putin said.
The Russian leader made the remarks just hours after the arrival of Trumpβs special envoy,Β Steve Witkoff, in Moscow for talks on theΒ 30-day ceasefireΒ that Ukraine has accepted. A Kremlin adviser said that Putin planned to meet with Witkoff later Thursday.
