The plane of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steven Whitkoff, which left Qatar this morning, crossed the Russian border and landed in Moscow as the world froze in anticipation of the Russian President’s speech on the Ukrainian issue.
Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Fox News that Whitkoff would visit Moscow to persuade the Russian side to sign a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine.
However, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said the 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine agreed to after talks with the US in Jeddah, could only be a temporary respite for the Ukrainian army. Ushakov noted:
“Our position on the temporary truce is nothing but a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military and nothing else. Our goal is long-term peace. Some steps that imitate peaceful actions, it seems to me, nobody needs in this situation.”
Ushakov admitted that President Vladimir Putin will make “more specific and substantive assessments” at an upcoming press conference.
In November 2024, Putin said that Ukraine did not need a ceasefire “for half an hour or six months” but conditions for a long-term settlement of the situation.
Lavrov pointed out Kyiv’s lies
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out Kyiv’s lies about repeatedly reaching a ceasefire in Ukraine. The Russian foreign minister noted that Kyiv has periodically violated both the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 and the Istanbul agreements of 2022. The diplomat emphasised:
“All the time, every time after such agreements it turned out that we were lied to. The Ukrainians lied with the support of their partners from Europe.”
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived at the Kremlin on Thursday afternoon for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko is in Moscow on an official visit, his first foreign trip since his re-election to the presidential post in January this year. The Kremlin noted that this fact testifies to the special nature of relations between the countries.
The President of Belarus believes that the US has no plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, while Washington is just “testing the waters” in this way. In his opinion, Ukraine is unlikely to agree to a truce. The Belarusian leader is more confident about the liberation of Kursk region. He believes that this area will be completely liberated within a few days. The Belarusian leader also stressed that the US pressed Kyiv on the issue of a peaceful settlement, but it will not be possible to press Russia. He said:
“Russia has “big trumps” in the situation in Ukraine, so it will be possible to agree on a settlement when Moscow gets them.”
Minsk pledges support for Moscow
Lukashenko also added that his country will support Russia on the conflict in Ukraine. He concluded:
“Our people understand perfectly well where our friends are and where the opponents, enemies and rivals are.”
Media outlets report that Russia has sent the US a list of requirements that Moscow considers necessary for the cessation of hostilities. According to Reuters, these conditions have been discussed in face-to-face and virtual meetings between Russian and US officials over the past three weeks. The agency’s sources say that the demands largely repeat Moscow’s earlier proposals addressed not only to Kyiv, but also to Washington and NATO countries. Among the key points are Ukraine’s refusal to join the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as the legal consolidation of the status of Crimea and four regions as part of the Russia.
The president’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that Putin might make a statement on Ukraine-related issues during a news conference scheduled for Thursday in the Kremlin.
On March 11, the US and Ukraine held talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. On the US side, they were attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz; on the Ukrainian side, by the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. Reuters earlier reported that the US delegation also included special presidential envoy Steve Whitkoff, but he did not attend the meeting, according to photo and video materials from Jeddah.
The talks in Jeddah are the first high-level contact between the US and Ukraine since the public altercation between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump in the Oval Office on February 28. After the conflict, the US suspended arms and intelligence supplies to Ukraine, and a deal on Ukrainian resources, which Zelensky and Trump were supposed to conclude in Washington, was also in question.
