Russia has stated there will be no conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump this week. Dmitry Peskov, the Russian presidential press secretary, told reporters: “There is no such conversation on the schedule for the next few days.”
This follows accusations of Putin dragging his heels regarding a permanent ceasefire with Ukraine. On Sunday, a double missile strike landed on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing 35. Mr Trump has made multiple claims recently that the war would not have happened if were president at the time. This week, he claimed “everybody’s to blame”, referring to Zelensky, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. On Friday, he took to his social media platform Truth Social, and wrote: “Russia has to get moving. Too many people ere [sic] DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war — a war that should have never happened, and wouldn’t have happened, if I were president!!!”
Mr Putin and Mr Trump last spoke on the phone on March 18 where a lengthy 90 minute discussion took place. The US president described the chat as “very good”, having agreed terms for a “limited” ceasefire.
This included to stop strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure for 30 days, also confirming a prisoner swap.
Prior to this, President Trump claimed he was considering large scale sanctions on Russia to pressurise them into a permanent ceasefire.
Writing online, he said: “I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late.”
On Friday, US envoy Steven Witkoff met with Putin to “get moving” with ending the war in Ukraine. Mr Witkoff revealed the Russian leader’s “request for permanent peace”.
Speaking to Fox News last night, he said the US and Russia “might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large”.
“Towards the end, we actually came up with – I’m going to say finally, but I don’t mean it in the way that we were waiting; I mean it in the way that it took a while for us to get to this place – what Putin’s request is to get to, have a permanent peace,” he said.
The US envoy also suggested what Mr Putin’s security demands are for a ceasefire.
He explained that a peace deal is “about the so-called five territories”, adding that NATO and NATO Article 5 – the principle where an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all members – would need to be discussed.