Putin, Trump agree to seek 30-day ceasefire on energy, infra targets (Picture credit: AFP)
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW:Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed on a phone call Tuesday to seek a limited 30-day ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in Russia and Ukraine.
Putin, though, stopped short of agreeing to a broader US-backed month-long truce.
Talks aimed at advancing toward a broader peace plan, including a maritime ceasefire in Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace, would begin “immediately”, White House said. It wasn’t clear whether Ukraine is on board with the limited ceasefire plan.
Calling his talks with Putin “productive”, Trump said, “We’ll be working quickly for a complete ceasefire”
.Putin also emphasised that the “complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv” is a condition for any permanent peace deal.
Trump had been pressuring Putin to agree to a 30-day ceasefire that he hopes would move one step closer to ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. The war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Trump has hinted a permanent peace deal could include territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Trump’s overtures to Putin since returning to the White House in Jan have left traditional US allies wary.
Ukraine’s sovereignty is not negotiable, Russia must give up seized land: Zelenskyy
Ukraine and its Western allies have long described Russi a’s invasion of Ukraine as an imperialist land grab, and Ukrainian President Zelensky has accused Putin of deliberately prolonging the war.
Zelensky, who arrived in Finland on Tuesday to discuss the Nato state’s support for Ukraine, said Ukraine’s sovereignty is not negotiable and Russia must surrender the territory it has seized. He said Moscow’s ambitions will not stop at Ukraine if it is allowed to keep the territory it has seized. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Tuesday Russia had massively expanded its military-industrial production capacity in preparation for “future confrontation with European democracies.”
Speaking to Trump late on Monday, British PM Keir Starmer “reiterated that all must work together to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to secure a just and lasting peace,” the British leader’s spokesperson said.
Russia seized the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and most of four eastern Ukrainian regions following its invasion in February 2022. All told, it controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Putin said he sent troops into Ukraine because Nato’s creeping expansion threatened Russia’s security. He has demanded Ukraine drop any ambition of joining the Western military alliance.
Putin has also said Russia must keep control of Ukrainian territory it has seized, Western sanctions should be eased and Kyiv must stage a presidential election.
REUTERS
