Ukraine has approved the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and Washington DC has resumed its military support and sharing of intelligence with Ukraine.
The next step is to get the Russian side to say yes.
Now we have to go to Russia and hopefully, President Putin will accept it too. Then we can get this going, said Trump during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
The Russian power center Kremlin "is waiting for the US to inform" about the details of the proposal, says spokesperson Dmitrij Peskov on Wednesday.
Shortly after, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky comments on the proposal for the first time. The month-long ceasefire provides an opportunity to develop a permanent peace plan, he says at a press conference in Kyiv. But:
We will not give up territories occupied by Russia. That is the most important red line.
Source: Unlikely Russian yes
If Russia says no to the proposal, it is telling, notes US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On Wednesday, he says that Europe must be involved in the negotiations on the Ukraine war, reports AFP, something the US had previously given contradictory signals about.
Rubio also states that Russia must be deterred from future attacks on Ukraine, but does not want to call the proposed mineral agreement between the US and Ukraine an American security guarantee.
However, Russian government sources tell Reuters that it will be "difficult" for Putin to accept the proposal for a ceasefire in its current form. Russia wants to dictate the terms and "get guarantees", according to one of the anonymous sources. According to another source, Moscow sees the proposal as a "trap".
Witkoff to Moscow?
Russia will not agree to "a peace that puts lives at risk", claims Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with American bloggers, according to state-controlled Russian Ria.
Moscow will, according to Lavrov, "under no circumstances" accept peacekeeping forces that include soldiers from NATO countries.
No one talks to us. They always say they're not talking about Ukraine without Ukraine, but they're doing everything against Russia without Russia, he says.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zacharova simultaneously emphasizes that Russia "makes its own decisions".
According to Donald Trump, American representatives will meet a Russian delegation as early as Wednesday – and he himself will "probably" talk to Putin. Previously, US envoy Steven Witkoff was reported to travel to Moscow this week, although it is unclear exactly when.
