After the April 25 meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Russia has pushed forward on what was considered the next step, direct negotiations with Kiev with no preconditions. Putin’s unilateral announcement for a three-day truce in honor of Victory Day—the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism—was ridiculed by Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “another attempt at manipulation: for some reason everyone should wait for May 8 and only then cease fire to provide Putin with silence during the parade. We value human lives, not parades.”
Today, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clarified Putin’s gesture as an offer for “the start of direct negotiations with Kiev without preconditions.” He cited Putin’s brief announcement, which stated that “the Russian side reiterates its willingness to enter peace talks without preconditions, with a view to eliminating the root causes behind the Ukraine crisis and establishing constructive interaction with international partners.” That phrase is a direct follow-on from the Washington-Moscow discussions.
Were Kiev to agree and begin such negotiations in a timely fashion, the subsequent three-day truce could be evaluated for an extension, based upon how the talks are going. However, Zelenskyy’s position has been that a 30-day ceasefire comes first. That position is designed to put aside any and all of the diplomacy between Washington and Moscow.
Speaking to journalists following a meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers today, Lavrov also addressed the fraud behind Zelenskyy’s demand: “A [30-day] ceasefire in this situation is considered a precondition that will be used to further support the Kiev regime and strengthen its military capabilities,” TASS quoted him as saying. He explained that Zelenskyy’s problem was that Ukraine’s military was “retreating.” Obviously, rest plus fresh military supplies could extend the fighting for a longer period.
He cited some of the previous violations by the Ukrainian side—most recently, this month’s Easter truce and the 30-day moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure brokered by Trump in mid-March—and concluded: “So, we know exactly what these calls [by Kiev] for a ceasefire are really worth.”
