Donald Trump said he hopes that Russia will ‘do the right thing’ after Vladimir Putin rejected a US-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
Though Putin confirmed that he was in ‘favor’ of the proposal during a press conference on Thursday, he added that Trump and the Americans needed to answer some ‘serious questions’ before he agrees.
After Putin’s report, Trump said ‘we know where we are with Ukraine’ before confirming Russia hadn’t yet accepted the proposal.
‘At this moment we have people talking in Russia, we have representatives over there, Steve Witkoff and others. They’re in very serious discussions,’ Trump added.
Trump said that he and the rest of his troops ‘want it to stop’ in reference to the Ukraine invasion.
‘Hopefully they’ll do the right thing,’ Trump added, in a message to the Russians, saying Putin’s statement was ‘promising’ but ‘incomplete.’
Putin said that he would try to reach out to the president himself to see if they could get to a proposal that worked for his side.
‘I think we need to talk to our American colleagues… Maybe have a phone call with President Trump and discuss this with him,’ he told reporters.
WHAT PUTIN THINKS
His problems with the deal include his inability to have a say over any possible betrayals by Ukraine and whether his adversaries in Kyiv would use the break to re-arm themselves and mobilize.
‘We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,’ Putin said.
The Russian president added that any ceasefire must lead to ‘long-term peace’.
