14 March 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine, but that “questions” remained about the nature of a truce as he set out a number of tough conditions.
The Russian president was responding to a plan for a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine agreed to earlier this week after talks with the US.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Putin’s response to the plan as “manipulative” and called for more sanctions on Russia.
Meanwhile, the US placed further sanctions on Russian oil, gas and banking sectors.
Russian officials said Putin was expected to hold talks on the ceasefire on Thursday evening with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who had flown to Moscow earlier that day.
It is not clear whether that meeting actually took place. On Friday, Russia’s state-run media quoted the air traffic monitoring website Flightradar as saying the plane believed to be carrying Witkoff had left Moscow.
Moscow and Washington have not commented on the issue.
Source: BBc
