MOSCOW, Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but the terms need to be worked out, and he emphasized that it should pave the way to lasting peace.
“So the idea itself is
correct, and we certainly support it," Putin told a news conference in
Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need
to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.”
He noted the need to develop a mechanism to control possible breaches of the truce. Another issue, he said, is whether Ukraine could use the 30-day ceasefire to continue mobilization and rearmament.
“We agree with the proposals
to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire
should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin
said.
Putin noted that while it
appeared that the U.S. persuaded Ukraine to accept a ceasefire, Ukraine is
interested in that because of the battlefield situation, noting that Ukrainian
troops that launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region would be fully
blocked in the coming days.
“In these conditions, I
believe it would be good for the Ukrainian side to secure a ceasefire for at
least 30 days,” he said.
Referring to the Ukrainian
troops in Kursk, he said: “Will all those who are there come out without a
fight?"
Putin thanked U.S. President
Donald Trump “for paying so much attention to the settlement in Ukraine.”
He also thanked the leaders of
China, India, Brazil and South Africa for their “noble mission to end the
fighting to casualties,” a statement that signaled those countries' potential
involvement in a ceasefire deal.
Russia has said it will not
accept peacekeepers from any NATO members to monitor a prospective truce.
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