The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced his intention to talk to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about resolving the conflict in Ukraine. During a flight from Florida to Washington, Trump mentioned that significant progress has been made on work done over the weekend and expressed optimism about the possibility of reaching a 30-day ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
"I think we have a lot of it already very much discussed by both sides, Ukraine and Russia... I will talk to President Putin on Tuesday," Trump stated. The American leader expressed his interest in addressing issues related to territory and power plants during the conversation with his Russian counterpart. "Maybe we can, maybe we can't, but I think we have a very good chance," he added.
For his part, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko declared that Russia will demand concrete security guarantees from the United States and NATO as part of any agreement on Ukraine. Grushko stated that Ukraine's neutral status and NATO's refusal to accept its membership must be key elements of these guarantees, noting that the increase of military contingents on NATO's eastern flank since 2019 represents a threat to Russia.
Additionally, Grushko emphasized that the rearmament of European countries exacerbates Moscow's security concerns and mentioned that the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine would only be viable if both parties to the conflict deem it necessary. Furthermore, the Russian official expressed Moscow's willingness to engage in separate negotiations with the European Union if it shows a willingness to dialogue in order to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine.
