Russian President Vladimir Putin just met with special envoy to the former US President Donald Trump Steve Witkoff to get further information about the US-Ukrainian negotiations that occurred early this week in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin said on Friday.
President Putin gave Witkoff "information and additional signals for President Trump" during the meeting on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, citing RT.
After the Tuesday talks in Jeddah, a joint US-Ukraine statement announced that Kiev had offered to accept an offered 30-day ceasefire with Russia. The US, meanwhile, agreed to resume the provision of military aid and intelligence assistance to Ukraine. Witkoff went to Moscow to deliver details of this offer to top Russian officials, although Moscow has not yet made a formal response. Peskov confirmed that the US envoy had met with Putin to present additional information on the talks.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Putin demonstrated Russia's readiness to pursue peaceful solutions to the conflict in Ukraine and recognized Trump's ceasefire proposal. "The idea itself is the right one, and we certainly support it," he said.
Nonetheless, Putin stressed that more talks were necessary in order to solve major issues of concern. "There are issues that we must discuss. I believe we need to work with our American friends. Perhaps I will speak with President Trump. But we welcome the prospect of ceasing this war peacefully," he added, which seemed to be a reference to possible direct talks with the ex-US president.
Trump echoed this sentiment during a press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, saying, “(Putin) put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete. And, yeah, I’d love to meet with him or talk to him.”
Notwithstanding the optimistic sentiment, Putin emphasized that any agreement on a ceasefire should be explicitly defined to help bring a lasting solution and not a temporary peace. He laid emphasis on an effective "control and verification" mechanism to guard against Ukraine misusing a ceasefire to re-group and re-supply its armed forces. Further, he noted the importance of ascertaining the fate of Ukrainian soldiers then besieged in Russia's Kursk Province after their February incursion into Russian territory last year.
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