The US president has said he “knows” his Russian counterpart and talks are “going reasonably well”
President Donald Trump has said that Washington’s negotiations with Moscow over a US-proposed temporary ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict have been going “okay” so far, and he expects “good” news soon.
Earlier this week, Washington and Kiev put forward a 30-day truce proposal, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivering the details of the initiative to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Putin said Moscow was open to the idea but stressed that many issues needed to be addressed beforehand, including the fate of Ukrainian incursion forces currently surrounded in Russia’s Kursk Region.
In a sit-down interview with Sharyl Attkisson for Full Measure, published on Friday, Trump neither confirmed nor denied having direct communication with Putin regarding the initiative, calling it a “very complex situation.”
🇺🇸 Trump believes that more information will be known about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine next Monday, March 17
The US president did not directly answer a question about what to do if Russia refuses to cease fire, but said that “it would be bad news for the world”
“Well, I don’t want to say it, but we are dealing with him, and I think it’s going reasonably well,” Trump said. “As you know, we have a ceasefire agreement with the Ukrainians. And we are trying to get that with Russia, too.”
And I think thus far, it’s gone okay. We’ll know a little bit more on Monday, and that’ll be, hopefully, good.
The US leader admitted he had been “a little bit sarcastic” when he previously claimed he could resolve the Ukrainian conflict in 24 hours. He clarified that he meant he wanted to “get it settled” and expected Putin to support his initiative.
“I think I know him pretty well, and I think he’s going to agree,” Trump said.
Earlier in the day, Trump asked Putin to spare the lives of the “thousands of Ukrainian troops” who are “completely surrounded.” Putin said he was “sympathetic” to Trump’s plea but argued that it was up to Kiev to order its troops to surrender.
“If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” Putin said. The Russian president, however, emphasized that Kiev’s forces had committed “numerous crimes against civilians” during their incursion and that Russian law enforcement was treating their actions as “terrorism.”
