Putin rejects Trump-proposed cease-fire ahead of Witkoff meeting in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected the terms of President Trump’s proposed 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine, demanding that the West stop arming Kyiv before it would consider such an arrangement.

While he said Moscow was willing to “cease hostilities,” Putin said Moscow would only agree to the Trump deal if it were changed substantially.

“We agree with proposals to cease hostilities [in Ukraine], but this cessation must lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the root cause of the initial crisis,” he said, without defining what he felt was the “cause.”

“We also want guarantees that Ukraine will not mobilize, train soldiers, or receive weapons during the 30-day ceasefire,” the Russian president said without indicating Russia would be willing to abide by the same conditions.

It came as US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for cease-fire talks with Russian leaders — and hours after Vladimir Putin’s top aides blasted President Trump’s proposal of a 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine as “useless to everyone” on Thursday —

“These kinds of steps, which only mimic peace efforts, are useless to everyone,” Yuri Ushakov, who previously served as Moscow’s ambassador to the US from 1998-2008, told Russian state television.

Congressional Republicans had celebrated Trump’s win Tuesday in getting Ukraine to agree to a cease-fire as a US-aligned goal.

“Peace for Ukraine is in our nation’s best interest, which is why President Trump has made it one of his administration’s top priorities,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) said on X after Washington got Ukraine to agree to the cease-fire.

Asked whether Russia would sign off on the the Trump-proposed deal already agreed to by the Ukrainians, Ushakov said the cease-fire agreement had “nothing” in it for Moscow.

“It only gives the Ukrainians the opportunity to regroup, gain strength and to continue (defending its country,)” Ushakov said on state television.

“I outlined our position that this (cease-fire) is nothing more than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more,” he said of a call with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz after the latter’s productive meeting with Kyiv in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

But Russia would also reap the same benefit — a concern that some Ukrainians who opposed the Trump cease-fire have argued.

Witkoff arrived in Moscow ready for the talks, which experts have said gives Russia the opportunity to display a willingness for peace like Ukraine did in Jeddah.

Kyiv’s agreement to Trump’s terms was met with mixed feelings in the Ukrainian public, but insiders have said it was at least partially meant as a good-faith effort to show Trump it is ready for peace.

Trump himself on Wednesday said “it’s up to Russia now” to agree to the cease-fire and bring his vision of peace to the region.

“(Tuesday’s) meeting in Jeddah puts the ball back in Russia’s court and places the onus on Washington to persuade Moscow to accept and implement the cease-fire,” said Foundation for Defending Democracies Russia Program director John Hardie said.

“… If Moscow refuses to play ball, President Trump should make good on his threat to ramp up economic pressure on Russia. This should include tightening sanctions on Russia’s oil revenue.”

Though Ushakov said Kyiv would only benefit from a cease-fire, countless troops and dozens of high-ranking military officials The Post spoke to in Ukraine last week said nothing of wanting one — and certainly not for operational reasons.

“Why would we stop fighting? We can’t. This is our home,” a soldier in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast near Kursk, Russia told The Post.

Just two weeks before Kyiv agreed to the Trump cease-fire proposal, Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Oleh Ivashchenko at a forum featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his cabinet that it was Russia — not Ukraine — that needed a cease-fire.

“Russia needs a pause to restore its economy, regroup its forces, and launch a new aggression against Ukraine,” Ivashchenko said.

Rather, Kyiv accepted the Trump administration’s ceasefire proposal as a way to signal its readiness for peace — despite its willingness and ability to push on if forced to by Russia, Ukrainian officials and defense experts said.

GOP Russia hawk Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) praised Trump for securing the cease-fire, arguing that “woke war criminal Putin doesn’t get to play the victim” now.

“President Trump graciously offered Putin a way out of this insanity. Problem is Putin does not want peace, he wants Ukraine,” he said.

About The Author

Stephen Collopy

See author's posts