Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy advisor criticized a proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, indicating it would only give Ukrainian forces a strategic break.
Russia’s military advancements combined with the involvement of US President Donald Trump in attempting to broker a peace deal, have raised fears that Ukraine, backed by the West, might lose the war.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian officials confirmed that US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had briefed them on a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine, and Russia was open to discussing the idea.
President Trump expressed hope at the White House on Wednesday that Russia would accept a proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, a plan that Ukraine has already expressed support for.
However, Former ambassador to Washington Yuri Ushakov who plays crucial role in articulating Russian major foreign policy issues criticized the proposal.
“I stated our position that this is nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more,” Ushakov said further.
“Our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country and our well-known concerns. It seems to me that no one needs any steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” he said.
The senior Kremlin official’s remarks suggest that Putin believes Russia’s military gains in Ukraine and western Russia will give them leverage in potential peace talks.
President Trump has warned Moscow of tougher sanctions if it refuses to negotiate, but has also offered to ease existing sanctions if Russia agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine
“I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia,” he said.
“I don’t want to do that because we want to get peace. we want to see peace and we’ll see. But in a financial sense, yeah, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia, “Trump added.
