Russia agrees with US proposals for a ceasefire in Ukraine but has concerns: Putin

ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country agrees with US proposals for a ceasefire in Ukraine but stressed that any ceasefire would have to deal with the root causes of the conflict.

“We agree with the proposals to stop the hostilities, but we proceed from the fact that this cessation should be such that it would lead to long-term peace and eliminate the original causes of this crisis,” Putin told a joint press conference with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow.

Moscow supports the idea of ​​ending the Russia-Ukraine war through “peaceful means,” he added.

Thanking US President Donald Trump for “paying so much attention” to the issue of finding a settlement for the conflict, Putin said that Russia will agree on the next steps in ending the war and "based on how the situation develops on the ground.”

He also said the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine is “correct” but that there are issues that they must discuss.

"And I think that we need to talk to our American colleagues and partners. Maybe call President Trump," he added.

He went on to warn that monitoring such a ceasefire will be very difficult due to the length of the front line between Russia and Ukraine.

Turning to the situation in Russia’s border region of Kursk, where Ukraine launched an incursion last August, Putin said it is now under the control of the Russian military, noting that Ukrainian forces located in the region are “completely isolated.”

He argued that it is in Ukraine's interests to accept a 30-day ceasefire based on this situation.

Ukraine said it would support a 30-day ceasefire with Russia following talks Tuesday in the Saudi city of Jeddah between a Ukrainian delegation and a US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.

A joint statement issued after the meeting omitted "security guarantees," essentially a commitment from the US to step in if Russia violated the ceasefire, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a late-night video message that they were discussed.

Zelenskyy said the US and Ukraine will talk about security guarantees in greater detail if a ceasefire is implemented.