Russia unlikely to accept 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine: Reuters

Any ceasefire agreement would have to take Russia’s battlefield advances into account and provide “guarantees” to Moscow, sources told the news agency.

Ukraine agreed to the U.S.’s proposal for a 30-day truce during talks in Jeddah on Tuesday, after which Washington resumed military and intelligence support for Kyiv. The U.S. is expected to discuss the proposal with Russia in the coming days.

In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials have ruled out a temporary ceasefire that would freeze the conflict along the current front lines.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov gave an evasive answer when asked about the U.S. proposal, explaining that the topic must first be discussed with the American side.

“Look, you are getting a little ahead of yourselves, we don’t want to do that,” Peskov told journalists, according to the pro-state outlet Kommersant.

Russia continues to occupy roughly 20% of Ukraine’s territory and made steady advances in Donetsk Oblast in late 2024. While Russia’s advance in Ukraine’s east has reportedly stalled earlier this year, Moscow’s troops seemed to have made rapid gains in Kursk Oblast, the Russian border region where Ukraine has been fighting since August 2024.

One source told Reuters that a ceasefire could weaken Russia’s position, as the West could pin the blame on Moscow should it fail to end the war.

Russian nationalist voices and pro-war bloggers have already denounced the ceasefire proposal. Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international committee in the Russian Senate, said that any deal should be hashed out on Moscow’s terms.

U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that President Volodymyr Zelensky is welcome to return to the White House following talks in Saudi Arabia.

Trump reiterated that Ukraine had accepted a full 30-day ceasefire proposal during negotiations in Jeddah and expressed hope that “Russia will agree to it.”

“We’re going to meet with them (Russia) later on today and tomorrow, and hopefully, we’ll be able to (work) out a deal. I think the ceasefire is very important,” Trump added.

When asked if Zelensky would be invited back to the White House, the U.S. president responded, “Sure, absolutely.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also confirmed that Ukraine-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia on March 11 included discussions about potential “territorial concessions” as part of a negotiated settlement with Russia.

“Yeah, we’ve had conversations,” Rubio said in an airport in Ireland when asked about potential discussions regarding Ukraine ceding territory.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said that both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make compromises for a peace deal, calling Ukraine’s goal of restoring its pre-2014 borders “unrealistic.”

Russian forces currently occupy roughly 20% of Ukraine, from where reports of systematic repression, torture, and forced deportations emerge.

Rubio also added that the Jeddah talks covered “what a negotiation process would look like” and reiterated, “There is no military solution to this conflict.”

The official acknowledged that Ukraine requires security assurances to deter possible future Russian aggression and emphasized that “Europeans will need to be involved in this regard.”