 |
| Putin applies his military look (EPA-EFE) |
President Vladimir Putin made it clear during a news conference yesterday that he was in no hurry to agree to a truce with Ukraine. Two days after Kyiv said it would agree to a monthlong cease-fire, Putin said he was in favor of “the idea” of a short truce, but added there were “questions we need to discuss.”
Those questions came in the form of conditions that raised doubts about whether Russia was serious about pursuing a good-faith peace agreement, according to a report at The New York Times (NYT).
Putin said the questions included whether Ukraine would be able to continue receiving arms shipments during the truce, and how the cease-fire would be enforced. He also said that he would not allow Ukrainian forces to peacefully withdraw from Russia’s Kursk region, where Russian troops have recently made progress. He encouraged them to “simply surrender.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was not surprised, while U.S. President Donald Trump held out hope that a peace deal could be reached.
The Times' Anton Troianovski reports from Berlin under the headline "Putin Stops Far Short of Agreeing to a Cease-Fire, and Adds Tough Conditions; President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the Russian leader had no desire to end the war, proposing conditions that made a truce unattainable:
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia yesterday did not rule out a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for a monthlong cease-fire, but he set down numerous conditions that would most likely delay any truce — or could make one impossible to achieve.
His remarks, at a news conference in Moscow, came as U.S. officials were in Russia to discuss the cease-fire proposal that Ukraine has already agreed to.
“The idea itself is the right one, and we definitely support it,” Mr. Putin said. “But there are questions that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk them through with our American colleagues and partners.”
Those questions, Mr. Putin said, included whether Kyiv would be able to continue receiving arms shipments during the 30-day truce, and how the cease-fire would be monitored and enforced.
Putin's statement seemed to be a signal that he is determined to maintain the upper hand in a conflict that started when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. How did Zelensky respond? His remarks understandably had an "I told you so" quality to them. Troianovski reports:
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that Mr. Putin’s comments had been “very predictable, very manipulative.”
“Putin, of course, is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war, wants to kill Ukrainians,” Mr. Zelensky said in his evening address. He said the Russian leader had set so many preconditions “that nothing will work out at all, or that it will not work out for as long as possible.”
Mr. Putin also said Russia would not allow Ukrainian forces occupying land in Russia’s Kursk region to peacefully withdraw, and that the Ukrainian leadership could instead order them “to simply surrender.”
Speaking at the Kremlin with the visiting president of Belarus, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Mr. Putin suggested that Ukraine was much more in need of a pause in the fighting than Russia was. He appeared confident that he would be able to force Ukraine to make extensive concessions, potentially including a requirement that Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region surrender.
“In these conditions, it seems to me that it would be very good for the Ukrainian side if there were a cease-fire, even for 30 days,” Mr. Putin said. “And we’re in favor of it. But there are nuances.”
Mr. Putin then listed those “nuances,” starting with the Ukrainian forces still in Kursk. He said that Russia would not allow those troops to withdraw peacefully and that the Ukrainian leadership could instead order them “to simply surrender.”
Ukraine stunned Russia in August with a cross-border incursion into Kursk, seizing several hundred square miles of territory. It was the first extensive fighting on Russian territory during the war, which Mr. Putin started with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But Russia now appears close to pushing Ukraine out of Kursk, a development that would reduce Kyiv’s leverage in any peace talks.
Mr. Putin also suggested he might demand that Ukraine halt its mobilization of new troops and Ukraine’s Western allies stop arms deliveries, and said it was not clear how the cease-fire would be monitored along a front line of some 700 miles.
“These are all questions demanding very careful study,” Mr. Putin said.
As he has in the past, Mr. Putin said that any deal to end the fighting would need to address the “original causes” of the war — suggesting that he would push for major Western concessions, such as a reduction of NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe, though it wasn’t clear if he would make them a stipulation for a monthlong cease-fire.
But Mr. Putin also appeared to take pains to show he was ready for substantive negotiations with Mr. Trump, beginning his remarks on a cease-fire by thanking the American president for paying “so much attention to a settlement in Ukraine.”
Mr. Putin, notably, did not repeat the onerous cease-fire conditions that he laid out in a speech last summer and that Russian officials have been repeating ever since. He said at the time that Ukraine needed to withdraw in full from the four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control.
Still, Dara Massicot, a Russian military specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called Mr. Putin’s new demands “very dangerous for Ukraine.” In effect, she argued, Mr. Putin was pushing for a scenario in which the West would not be able to help Ukraine rebuild its armed forces while Russian factories pumped out new weaponry.
He was expected to meet with Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, later on Thursday — and Mr. Putin said he might soon speak with the American president.
While Zelensky is set to dig in for the long haul, Trump still seems hopeful that a quick resolution can be reached. From the NYT report:
Mr. Trump, during a meeting with the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office on Thursday, said there were “very serious discussions” going on with Mr. Putin and others as they tried to finalize the 30-day cease-fire deal.
“We’d like to see a cease-fire from Russia,” he told reporters. When asked if he would speak with the Russian president, Mr. Trump said he would “love to meet” and talk with him.
Mr. Trump said the United States had discussed with Ukraine possible concessions as part of a peace agreement. “We’ve been discussing with Ukraine land and pieces of land that would be kept and lost, and all of the other elements of a final agreement,” Mr. Trump said, adding: “A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.”
Here’s what else to know:
Fighting in Kursk: Moscow’s forces have intensified a campaign to push Ukrainian forces out of Kursk, the border area where Kyiv’s troops occupied several hundred square miles of territory in a surprise incursion last August. On Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces had retaken Sudzha, the main population center in the region that was captured by Ukraine last year. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine’s military.
Putin’s dilemma: The Russian leader has seen a dizzying reversal in his geopolitical fortunes over the last month as Mr. Trump realigned American foreign policy in Russia’s favor and antagonized U.S. allies. But the emergence of a joint cease-fire proposal from the United States and Ukraine complicates things for Mr. Putin, deepening the tension between his desires for a far-reaching victory in Ukraine and close ties with Mr. Trump.
On the front line: Dressed in fatigues, Mr. Putin visited a command post near the front in Kursk late Wednesday to cheer on his military’s ejection of Ukrainian forces from much of the territory they had been occupying in the Russian border region.
Zelensky sounded as if he had seen Putin's act before and said Russia remains the primary impediment to peace. From The Times' report:
Mr. Zelensky said the Russian leader had set so many preconditions to a cease-fire “that nothing will work out at all, or that it will not work out for as long as possible.” He added that the Mr. Putin’s remarks matched a longstanding pattern.
“Putin often does this — he does not say ‘no’ directly, but does so in a way that practically only delays everything and makes normal decisions impossible,” Mr. Zelensky said. “We believe that all this is now another Russian manipulation.”
Mr. Putin suggested that Ukraine was much more in need of a pause in the fighting than Russia was, and he appeared confident that he would be able to force Ukraine to make extensive concessions, potentially including a requirement that Ukrainian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region surrender.
“In these conditions, it seems to me that it would be very good for the Ukrainian side if there were a cease-fire, even for 30 days,” Mr. Putin said. “And we’re in favor of it. But there are nuances.”
Mr. Zelensky vowed to continue to work with both the Americans, Europeans and “everyone in the world who wants peace, to force Russia to end the war.”
“The only one who will delay everything, the only one who will be nonconstructive, is Russia,” Mr. Zelensky said.
In Washington, meanwhile, Trump was striking chords of hope. Was his optimism based on reality or was he falling for a Putin con game? It likely is too early to know. Reports The Times:
President Trump said Thursday he saw “good signals” toward finalizing a 30-day cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, as U.S. officials visiting Moscow were expected to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
The remarks, delivered in the Oval Office while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, came as Mr. Putin made clear he was in no hurry for a cease-fire, laying out numerous conditions before he could agree to a truce.
“It doesn’t mean anything until we hear what the final outcome is, but they have very serious discussions going on right now with President Putin and others, and hopefully they all want to end this nightmare,” Mr. Trump said of the meetings his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was having in Russia. “It’s a nightmare. It’s a horrible thing.”
Mr. Trump said he hoped to speak to Mr. Putin soon. He also said the U.S. had discussed with Ukraine possible concessions as part of a peace agreement.
“We’ve been discussing with Ukraine land and pieces of land that would be kept and lost, and all of the other elements of a final agreement,” Mr. Trump said.
He added: “A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.”
Despite Mr. Trump’s years of complaints about NATO, an organization from which he has repeatedly threatened to withdraw, the meeting with Mr. Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, proceeded amicably as the two leaders discussed areas of cooperation.
Mr. Trump commended Mr. Rutte for “doing a fantastic job” while Mr. Rutte heaped praise on Mr. Trump, crediting him with revitalizing the organization by pushing countries to contribute more military spending.
“I really want to work together with you in the run-up to The Hague summit to make sure that we will have a NATO which is really reinvigorated under your leadership, and we are getting there,” Mr. Rutte said, referencing this summer’s meeting in the Netherlands.
Many American presidents have complained that other European allies do not spend enough on defense, relying instead on American protection, but Mr. Trump has escalated the rhetoric to a new level, suggesting the U.S. may not fulfill its mutual defense commitment for countries that have not contributed enough.
Mr. Trump’s more conciliatory approach to Russia and his sweeping tariffs on the European Union have also divided the alliance and its member states, some of which are starting to explore a future that does not depend so heavily on the United States.
Mr. Rutte, seeking to avoid the kind of confrontation that blew up Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. Zelensky in early March, complimented the U.S. president and tried to steer away from conflict — at least in front of news cameras.
When Mr. Trump was asked about his efforts to annex Greenland — a territory controlled by Denmark, a NATO member — the president noted that Mr. Rutte “could be instrumental” in making that happen.
“We have to do it,” he said. “We really need it for national security.”
Mr. Rutte deflected the question of the United States taking Greenland, saying he did not want to “drag NATO into that.” Instead, he pivoted to agreeing with Mr. Trump that Russia and China posed threats to the Arctic region.
Was Putin's aggressive tone, as Trump naively hoped for a resolution, a massive show of disrespect for the U.S. president? That's how it appears.
Looming over much of yesterday's discussion was a strategically significant region called Kursk. The NYT tells us why Kursk is important:
Kursk is an area of western Russia that borders the Sumy region of Ukraine. Sumy had long been thought to be a place where Russia might try opening a new front in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
But in a move that surprised even its key allies, Ukrainian troops caught Moscow off guard last summer, pouring across a thinly defended border and opening a new front themselves.
The main objectives, one Ukrainian colonel told The New York Times, were to divert Russian troops from the grueling fighting in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, push Moscow’s artillery out of range of the Sumy region and damage Russian morale.
Within weeks of the incursion, Ukraine had established control over a slice of Kursk that its officials said encompassed nearly 500 square miles of farmland and settlements. Though barely a sliver of Russia, the largest country in the world, the assault was an embarrassment for Mr. Putin. It also surprised Ukraine’s allies, including the United States, who had not been told in advance.
The most important town in Kursk that Ukrainian forces seized was Sudzha, an administrative center with a population of around 5,000 people before the incursion.
Analysts said that Ukraine’s offensive was a gamble, stretching its military resources at a time when Kyiv’s troops were struggling to defend a long front line in their own territory.
Mr. Zelensky said that his military did not want to stay on Russian soil indefinitely, and that territory gained in Kursk could be used to strengthen Ukraine’s position in future negotiations with Moscow.
How has Russia responded?
Initially, rather than diverting large numbers of troops to defend Kursk, Mr. Putin said that eastern Ukraine remained Moscow’s main military focus. Russian troops continued their creeping advance within Ukraine, taking the town of Vuhledar in October and then pushing farther west.
Weeks into its incursion in Kursk, Ukraine’s push slowed and its troops began gradually to lose ground as Russian forces deployed there in greater numbers.
Then, in the fall, Russia received a boost from its ally North Korea, which deployed around 11,000 soldiers to Kursk to assist Moscow’s defense. The deployment at first unnerved Ukraine and its allies. But the North Korean troops suffered wave after wave of heavy losses and, for a time, were withdrawn from the frontline.
In recent weeks, Russian forces, assisted by North Korean fighters, have advanced rapidly in Kursk, using drones and fighter jets to retake much of the territory that Ukraine had held. In a sign of renewed military confidence, Mr. Putin visited a command post near the front in Kursk late Wednesday, the Kremlin said. On Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had retaken Sudzha. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. If confirmed, that Russian advance would leave only small pockets of Russian land along the border under Ukrainian control.
