Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a limited 30-day ceasefire in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine after a nearly two hour phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, the White House announced.
The offer by the Russians refers only to attacks on energy and infrastructure targets, falling short of President Trump’s goal to broker a more comprehensive pause in the fighting, is nonetheless more than was expected after Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff visited Moscow last week.
[RELATED: Russia Sends Mixed Signals as Talks Proceed for U.S.-Proposed Peace Gambit]
Putin also said on the call with Trump that he is willing to proceed with a swap of 175 prisoners being returned by both Russia and Ukraine, the read-out indicated.
Ukraine would now have to agree to this limited cease-fire agreement for it to take effect. Special Envoy Witkoff had brought a broader ceasefire proposal by Kyiv to Moscow on March 13, but sources close to the Kremlin indicated it did not contain the guarantees they sought.
Putin’s goals include territorial concessions by Ukraine as well as its agreement not to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), or to host foreign troops on its soil. These could be politically impossible terms for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept, but they are not dissimilar to Russia’s demands prior to its February 2022 invasion of its neighbor.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said this weekend that the U.S. might consider asking Ukraine to cede territory, including the possibility of recognizing Russia’s claim to Crimea.
“We’ll be talking about land. We’ll be talking about power plants because that’s a big question, but I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides,” Trump said on Sunday.
According to read-outs of the call, Trump repeatedly referenced the Zaporozhia nuclear power plant in his talk with Putin. If Ukraine agrees to the limited cease-fire, that facility and others would be off limits to Russian attacks for a month, allowing negotiations to continue about a wider agreement.
Mark my words . Zelensky will sneak out the back door one of these nights and disappear to some island with a hundred million US taxpayer dollars and live like a king . The democrats will claim Trump forced him out and try to impeach him again . Zelensky is a sleeze bag grifter who is in this for himself and no one else
The idiots Biden and Harris caused this war . Zelensky will be the grand prize winner .
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Ukraine is riddled with corruption! Always has been and always will be! A leopard does not change its spots and Zelensky is no better than his predecessors! Billions of $$$ in US Government aid in this useless war! Millions of dollars are unaccounted for. Where do you all think that money went? Biden and his crime family are neck deep in this corrupt scheme! I say let Russia have the Ukraine, at least the US knows what they are dealing with.
I agree with President Trump that this wasteful useless war would have never happened if he had remained president! Joe Biden has ripped off the American people again and should be tried (even at 82) for high treason. Along with his pardoned son and brother. No wonder the Democratic Party approval rating is at an all time low. Bunch of do nothing crooks!