President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday didn’t rule out a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for a monthlong cease-fire, however he set down quite a few circumstances that might almost certainly delay any truce — or might make one inconceivable to realize.
Mr. Putin’s feedback throughout a information convention highlighted the stability he was attempting to strike, exuding confidence in Russia’s place on the battlefield whereas searching for to proceed talks with the US and keep away from upsetting President Trump. The U.S. president, having antagonized the nation’s allies and realigned American international coverage in Russia’s favor, has emerged as a key geopolitical partner for Mr. Putin.
In sharp remarks later within the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine mentioned the Russian chief set so many circumstances “that nothing will work out in any respect or that it’s going to not work out for so long as potential.”
Mr. Putin’s feedback got here earlier than he was to fulfill with Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Center East envoy, to debate the cease-fire proposal that Ukraine had already agreed to. As of early Friday Moscow time, the Kremlin had not commented on how the assembly went. However the Kremlin mentioned Mr. Putin had additionally spoken by cellphone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto chief of Saudi Arabia, about Ukraine.
Mr. Putin’s remarks additionally got here as Russia stored up its momentum within the key battle in the Kursk region of Russia, the place Moscow’s forces appeared near pushing Ukraine out of the territory it seized final summer time. Such a growth would scale back Kyiv’s leverage in future peace talks.
“The thought itself is the precise one, and we positively assist it,” Mr. Putin mentioned, referring to the cease-fire proposal. “However there are questions that we have to focus on, and I believe that we have to speak them by way of with our American colleagues and companions.”
Mr. Putin instructed that his circumstances would come with limits to Ukraine’s capability to mobilize extra troops and import weaponry throughout a cease-fire — restrictions that might put Kyiv at a deeper drawback if the preventing restarted.
Mr. Putin’s feedback had been the primary concerning the cease-fire provide that emerged from negotiations between the United States and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia this week. They instructed that the Russian chief seen that proposal as simply part of a broader negotiation between Washington and Moscow, and that he was keen to indicate that he was participating with Mr. Trump’s efforts to finish the struggle that Mr. Putin started along with his full-scale invasion three years in the past.
Mr. Putin mentioned he may “have a name with President Trump and speak it over with him.” When requested afterward Thursday if he would communicate with the Russian president, Mr. Trump mentioned he would “love to fulfill” and speak with him.
“We’d wish to see a cease-fire from Russia,” Mr. Trump advised reporters whereas assembly with the NATO secretary basic, Mark Rutte, within the Oval Workplace.
Mr. Trump mentioned the US had mentioned with Ukraine potential concessions as a part of a peace settlement. “We’ve been discussing with Ukraine land and items of land that might be stored and misplaced, and the entire different components of a last settlement,” Mr. Trump mentioned, including, “A whole lot of the small print of a last settlement have truly been mentioned.”
Mr. Putin seems eager to remain on Mr. Trump’s good facet, given the geopolitical victories that the U.S. president has already delivered for the Kremlin.
However Mr. Putin’s feedback additionally confirmed that the Russian chief noticed his forces as having the higher hand on the battlefield and that it might be to Russia’s benefit to attract out the negotiations.
He mentioned on Thursday that Russia would proceed to insist on a peace deal that addressed the “authentic causes” of the struggle — suggesting that his push for main Western concessions, equivalent to a discount of NATO’s presence in Japanese Europe, hadn’t modified, although it wasn’t clear if he would make them a stipulation for a monthlong cease-fire.
Mr. Zelensky referred to as Mr. Putin’s response to the cease-fire proposal “very predictable, very manipulative.”
“Putin, after all, is afraid to inform President Trump immediately that he needs to proceed this struggle, needs to kill Ukrainians,” he mentioned in his night tackle.
Mr. Putin was easy in declaring {that a} fast truce can be higher for Ukraine than for Russia.
“In these circumstances, it appears to me that it might be excellent for the Ukrainian facet if there have been a cease-fire, even for 30 days,” Mr. Putin mentioned. “And we’re in favor of it. However there are nuances.”
He then listed these “nuances,” beginning with the Ukrainian forces nonetheless in Kursk. He mentioned that Russia wouldn’t enable these troops to peacefully withdraw and that the Ukrainian management might as an alternative get them organized “to easily give up.”
Ukraine shocked Russia in August with a cross-border incursion into Kursk, seizing a number of hundred sq. miles of territory.
However Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned on Thursday that the nation’s army had regained full management of Sudzha, the main town in Kursk that Ukraine had seized. Ukrainian officers haven’t confirmed a retreat from the city, the place Wednesday evening Kyiv’s army reported fierce preventing. If confirmed, such a retreat would go away solely small pockets of Russian land alongside the border beneath Ukrainian management.
Mr. Putin additionally instructed he may demand that Ukraine’s Western allies halt arms deliveries, and mentioned it was not clear how the cease-fire can be monitored alongside a entrance line of some 700 miles.
“These are all questions demanding very cautious examine,” he mentioned.
Whereas Mr. Putin’s circumstances could also be inconceivable for Ukraine to simply accept, he didn’t repeat his onerous demand from final 12 months {that a} cease-fire would depend on Ukraine’s withdrawing from the four Ukrainian regions that Russia had declared as its personal however didn’t totally management.
Nonetheless, Dara Massicot, a Russian army specialist on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, which relies in Washington, referred to as Mr. Putin’s new calls for “very harmful for Ukraine.”
In impact, she argued, Mr. Putin was pushing for a state of affairs through which the West wouldn’t be capable to assist Ukraine rebuild its armed forces whereas Russian factories pumped out new weaponry.
“What Putin mentioned at present implies that the West can not assist Ukraine whereas Russia regenerates,” she mentioned.
Reporting was contributed by Maria Varenikova from Kyiv, Ukraine; Marc Santora from Dnipro, Ukraine; Paul Sonne from Berlin; and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
