By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide said on Thursday that he had told Washington that a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States to pause the war in Ukraine would simply give Kyiv’s forces a respite.
Russia’s advances along the front in recent months and U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to strike a peace deal to end the three-year-old conflict in Ukraine have raised fears that Kyiv, which was backed by the West, could lose the war.
Trump’s Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin. Russian officials said U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had provided details on the ceasefire idea on Wednesday and Russia was ready to discuss it.
Trump had said in the White House on Wednesday that he hoped the Kremlin would agree to the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine said it would support.
Yuri Ushakov, a former ambassador to Washington who speaks for Putin on major foreign policy issues, told state television that he had spoken to Waltz on Wednesday to outline Russia’s position on the ceasefire.
“I stated our position that this is nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more,” Ushakov said.
“Our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country and our well-known concerns. It seems to me that no one needs any steps that (merely) imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” he said.
Ushakov said Putin would speak to the media later on Thursday and outline Russia’s position in more detail.
Asked about a Reuters story that Russia has presented the U.S. with a list of demands for a deal to end its war against Ukraine and reset relations with Washington, Ushakov said that the White House knew Moscow’s position.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Michael Perry, Toby Chopra, Philippa Fletcher)
