6 hours ago
US President Donald Trump said that he plans to speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday to further discussions on ending the war in Ukraine. The development came as the Kremlin seeks "ironclad" guarantees that NATO nations will exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral.
"We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can't, but I think we have a very good chance I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work's been done over the weekend,” the US President told reporters.
The US has proposed a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to it. Moscow has also agreed to the deal “in principle,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that certain conditions must be addressed before signing any agreement to end the three-year war.
Stressing that any lasting peace treaty must meet Moscow’s demands, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said, "We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement".
Reiterating Russia’s vehement stand against the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine, Grushko said "Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it into the alliance”.
He added, "It does not matter under what label NATO contingents were to be deployed on Ukrainian territory: be it the European Union, NATO, or in a national capacity”.
Responding to the peace proposals by the US, the Russian President, last week, had said that Moscow “support the idea of ending this conflict by peaceful means," but there are fundamental issues that needs to be addressed for long lasting peace.
"The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it. But there are issues that we need to discuss. And I think we need to talk to our American colleagues as well," Putin said in Moscow.
On March 14, the US President Donald Trump said that Washington had a Productive discussion with Putin and there was a "very good chance" the war between Russia and Ukraine can end soon.
"We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end,” Trump said, referring to the talks held by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Putin had sent Trump a message about his ceasefire plan via Witkoff, expressing "cautious optimism" that a deal could be reached to end the conflict.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also expressing hope for an swift end to the war, blamed Putin for bringing unnecessary conditions to drag the process.
“Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians. That’s why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such preconditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long as possible,” he said earlier.
Zelenskyy has consistently said that the sovereignty of his country is not negotiable and that Russia must surrender the territory it has seized. Russia seized the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and now controls most of four eastern Ukrainian regions since it invaded the country in 2022.
Trump said, “We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants”.
Earlier this month, US and Russian delegations held a lengthy meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where both countries agreed to mend their ties, with the first step being an end to the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly rejected the outcome of the Jeddah talks, stating that any decision made without Kyiv's involvement would be unacceptable.
In the following days, tensions rose between the two leaders, leading to a war of words, with even Donald Trump calling Zelenskyy a dictator. The tensions culminated in an explosive Oval Office clash, after which Zelenskyy was asked to leave the White House.
However, Zelenskyy later softened his stance toward the US while continuing to target Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US and Ukraine held talks in Jeddah last week, and subsequently, Zelenskyy announced his agreement to the ceasefire.
Published On:
Mar 17, 2025
