Friday Briefing: Putin Speaks on Ukraine Cease-Fire
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Putin appeared open to a cease-fire with Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday seemed to voice preliminary support for a cease-fire, but made it clear he was in no hurry. He said he wanted to continue negotiating with President Trump, but told reporters in Moscow that Russia was in favor of a 30-day truce — with numerous conditions.
Among the questions he hopes to address, Putin said, is whether Kyiv would continue getting arms shipments during the truce, and how the cease-fire would be monitored and enforced. He said that Ukrainian forces occupying land in the Kursk region wouldn’t be allowed to peacefully withdraw. Kyiv could instead order them “to simply surrender.” He did not repeat his demand that Kyiv cede land from four regions in exchange for a cease-fire.
Trump said yesterday that the U.S. and Ukraine had been discussing land that Kyiv would have to give up as part of an agreement to end the war, and told reporters that “a lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.”
Quote: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that Putin only wanted to continue the war and had set so many preconditions “that nothing will work out at all or that it will not work out for as long as possible.”