Ukraine says Putin response to US ceasefire plan 'very predictable' and 'manipulative'
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he supports but won't immediately agree to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal for Ukraine because he wants to see an "enduring peace" that removes the "underlying cause of the crisis."
Putin’s comments were the first official response from the Kremlin to a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire agreed by Ukraine this week. His comments weren't an outright rejection of the plan, but neither were they a full-throated endorsement.
"The idea itself is good, and we of course support it, but there are questions we have to discuss," Putin told a news conference in Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin's response to the U.S. plan was "very predictable" and "manipulative" and called for more sanctions on Russia to force a deal.
President Donald Trump was meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House as Putin delivered his response. Addressing reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he would "love" to meet with Putin to find a way to end the war.
"He put out a very promising statement, but it wasn't complete," Trump said, adding that "we have to get it over with fast."
Among the "reservations" Putin said he had about the deal were how the ceasefire would be enforced and whether it would allow Ukraine time to build back its armed forces. France and the United Kingdom have offered to provide peacekeeping troops if the U.S. provides support.
Putin has repeatedly spoken about the need to eliminate what he describes as the "root causes" of the war that he started and is now into its fourth year. By this, he means NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe and questioning the very concept of Ukrainian sovereignty. In the news conference, Putin said any ceasefire deal would have to include an end to Western arms supplies to Ukraine.
Trump's envoy in Moscow
Earlier, Yuri Ushakov, one of Putin's senior aides and negotiators, dismissed the 30-day ceasefire proposal as "nothing other than a temporary time-out for Ukrainian soldiers" that would allow Kyiv's forces time to regroup.
"Steps that imitate peaceful actions are not needed," Ushakov told state television late Wednesday. His comments were published later by Russian news agency Interfax.
The comments from Putin and Ushakov came as Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, arrived in Moscow to discuss the proposal. Ushakov said he communicated Russia’s stance to Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, on Wednesday evening.
Russia media reported that Witkoff left Moscow in the early hours of Friday morning after meeting with Putin in the Kremlin late on Thursday night.
Ahead of Russia's talks with U.S. officials in Moscow, Putin sent what looked like a defiant military message to Ukraine when he made a rare appearance, dressed in military fatigues, in the Kursk region of southern Russia late Wednesday. Putin visited the area to mark Russian advances against Ukrainian forces there.
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Ukrainian forces took a chunk of land in the Kursk region last August and have held on to it through more than seven months of fighting. Alexey Naumov, a Russian political scientist, said on social media that he believes Russia will agree to Trump’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire once Ukrainian forces are pushed out of the Kursk region. The Russian state news agency TASS says Russia is close to seizing control of Kursk.
Separately, Trump, at a White House meeting with Ireland's leader on Wednesday, appeared to pressure Moscow to accept the ceasefire and warn Putin he could face sanctions.
"In a financial sense, yeah we could do things very bad for Russia, would be devastating for Russia," Trump said.
He added he didn't want to inflict harm on Russia.
The ceasefire plan was developed during discussions between U.S. and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.
Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address on Thursday, said he thought Putin was preparing to reject the proposal but was afraid to tell Trump.
"That's why in Moscow they are imposing upon the idea of a ceasefire these conditions − so that nothing happens at all, or so that it cannot happen for as long as possible."