Russia expresses scepticism to Reuters over proposed 30-day ceasefire

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is unlikely to accept the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, writes Reuters after speaking to Russian officials.  

An unnamed Russian official reports that Russia needs to work out the terms of any ceasefire and receive certain guarantees.

"It is difficult for Putin to agree to this in its current form…Putin has a strong position because Russia is advancing," Reuters' source said on condition of anonymity.

The Reuters source added that without ceasefire guarantees, Russia's position could quickly weaken, and then the West could accuse Russia of failing to end the war.

Another Russian official said that the ceasefire proposal looks like a trap from Moscow's perspective. He added that it would be difficult for Putin to stop the war without concrete guarantees or commitments.

A third Russian source said the overall picture is that the US has resumed military aid and intelligence sharing and has decorated the move as a ceasefire.

Putin himself has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of a short-term ceasefire.

"We don't need a truce, we need a long-term peace secured by guarantees for the Russian Federation and its citizens. It is a difficult question how to ensure these guarantees," Putin said in December 2024.

At a Security Council meeting on 20 January, Putin said that it "should not be a short truce, not some kind of respite for regrouping forces and rearmament with the aim of subsequently continuing the conflict, but a long-term peace."

Putin outlined his conditions for peace in June 2024: Ukraine must formally drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from all the 4 Ukrainian oblasts claimed and currently controlled mainly by Russia.

Russian estimates show that Russia controls 75 per cent of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts and over 99 per cent of Luhansk Oblast. Russia claims that all four oblasts are now legally part of the Russian Federation and will never be returned to Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on 12 March that Russia would not accept NATO troops "under any flag, in any capacity, on Ukrainian soil".

Following the talks in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on 11 March, Ukraine said it is willing to implement a 30-day ceasefire, provided that Russia also adheres to it.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Moscow would form its position in light of the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.