Friday Briefing
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Putin demands Ukrainian concessions for a truce
President Vladimir Putin of Russia has not ruled out a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for a monthlong cease-fire, but he set down numerous conditions yesterday that would probably delay any truce, or could make one impossible to achieve.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said Putin had made so many demands “that nothing will work out at all” or “it will not work out for as long as possible.”
Putin suggested he would insist on limits to Ukraine’s ability to mobilize more troops and import arms during a cease-fire. He said Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region wouldn’t be allowed to peacefully withdraw, saying Kyiv could order them “to simply surrender.” His comments suggested that he saw Russia as having the upper hand on the battlefield and that it would benefit him to draw out the negotiations.
The Kremlin had yet to comment on Putin’s scheduled talks yesterday with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, to discuss the cease-fire proposal Ukraine has agreed to. The Kremlin said Putin had spoken by phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, who has emerged as a middleman on Ukraine.
From the U.S.: Trump said yesterday that the U.S. and Ukraine had been discussing land that Kyiv would have to give up as part of a deal to end the war, and he told reporters that “a lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.”
Front lines: Russia claimed to have retaken Sudzha, the main population center in the part of the Kursk region that Ukraine captured last summer. Here’s what to know.