This content was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
US President Donald Trump said he sees a “very good prospect” for peace between Ukraine and Russia after “very good and effective conversations” between US authorities and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump also stated in a March 14 , post , post  on his Truth Social website that the US had urged Russia to spare the lives of” thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers, who Putin has claimed have been killed by Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine contests that assertion.
The post came just days after the Kremlin said it was” slowly positive” following a meeting later on March 13 between Putin and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
There is a good chance that this terrible, terrible war may finally come to an end, Trump wrote in a letter from Russia that we had very excellent and creative discussions with.
Trump continued,” Hundreds of Russian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian army, and in a very poor and vulnerable place.”
” I have clearly requested to President Putin that their lives been spared”, he wrote. This would be a terrible slaughter unlike anything since World War II, the author claimed.
A group of Russian troops were “isolated” in the Kursk location, which was the site of a shock incursion by Russian forces last August, according to Trump a day earlier. Responding to Trump’s petition on March 14, he said the military ‘ life may be spared if they surrendered and urged Kyiv to get them to do so.
Officials in Kyiv claim that despite Ukrainian forces ‘ slow withdrawal in the Kursk region under heavy pressure from Russian troops, the armed forces general staff stated on March 14 that “r ] eports of the alleged “encirclement” of Ukrainian units are false and fabricated.
There is no danger of our products being encircled, it said in a statement posted on social media.
Zelenskyy Challenges Putin’s Motivations
Putin’s official earlier on March 14th stated that there were reasons for” careful enthusiasm” regarding Trump’s 30-day cease-fire plan, which Ukraine accepted earlier this year at speaks with US authorities in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine questioned Moscow’s honesty in bringing an end to the conflict, which is now in its third month following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Putin sent Trump a concept about his cease-fire plan after his conversations with Witkoff in the Belarusian capital.
We will decide the timing of a conversation ( between Trump and Putin ) when Mr. Witkoff brings all the information to President Trump. There are justifications for being slowly optimistic, Peskov said.
Putin said a moment earlier that he agrees in principle with the US plan for a momentary cease-fire with Ukraine, but added that” there are details”, such as American arms sales to Kyiv, that he wants addressed initially.
Any contract, according to the Soviet leader, may result in long-term tranquility that addresses the “root” causes of the conflict, making an obvious mention of NATO expansion and additional developments that Putin states have put Russia’s security in jeopardy.
Zelenskyy questioned Putin’s intentions in a video released later on March 13 and claimed the Russian president was preparing to accept the plan but was afraid to tell Trump.
” That’s why in Moscow they are imposing upon the idea of a cease-fire these problems — so that nothing happens at all, or so that it cannot occur for as long as possible”, Zelenskyy said.
He responded on March 14 by posting a message on social media and tagged the Kremlin, saying it was trying to” complicated and bring out the procedure.”
After speaking with friar Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Holy See, he said,” Russia is the only group that wants the war to continue and politics to break down.”
Putin’s Answer To Trump’s Force
At a conference in Jeddah on March 11, Kyiv agreed to Trump’s request for a 30-day cease-fire, placing the blame on Moscow. The ball was thrown, at least partially, back into US fingers as a result of Puntin’s answer.
Trump called Putin’s first reaction to peace discuss developments “promising” but imperfect, though he added he hoped Russia had “do the right thing” and consent to the deal.
” I believe that the Russians are interested in not being perceived as the obstinate party, as that could lead to sanctions from Trump,” according to the group. That was what Putin said today, according to John Hardie, the deputy chairman of the Russia system at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Trump has made ending the war in Ukraine a major concern since taking office for a minute term less than two months ago, and is wielding US leverage to get both Kyiv and Moscow to the table.
Russia’s oil, gas, and banking industries saw an increase in tension from the US administration on March 13 as a result of tighter restrictions on those sectors.
The Treasury Department was one of the measures that, among others, allowed the Biden administration’s leadership to end a 60-day provision that had allowed for some power dealings involving sanctioned Russian banks. The move had make it more difficult for various countries, especially in Europe, to buy Russian oil.
The Group of Seven ( G7 )’s foreign ministers, which include the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, discussed putting more sanctions on Russia and increasing support for Ukraine if the Kremlin rejects the cease-fire.
They stated in a joint declaration that the procedures they discussed during the meetings of March 13 and 14 included cap on the price of Russian oil exports. Western governments in late 2022 imposed a$ 60-a-barrel value cover on the import of Russian crude using American ships or plan. Is it unclear whether the G7 discussions included a reduction in the price cover. The oil exports, which account for a second of the national budget income, are a major driver of Russia’s business.
In a shared statement , following the meeting, the G7 said that” we reaffirmed our unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its regional dignity and right to exist, and its independence, independence, and freedom”.
We applauded the continuing efforts to end a ceasefire, particularly the meeting between the US and Ukraine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 11.
Putin added that the plan left some unanswered questions, such as what should be done about Ukraine’s entry into Russia’s Kursk area.
” If we have a cease-fire, does that imply that everyone there had keep”? .. said Putin. If we release the Ukrainian soldiers [after they have committed atrocities against the people ]? Or do they sacrifice”?
Ukraine claims it complies with international humanitarian law and doesn’t targeted citizens, but it denies committing these crimes.
Russia’s consent to a cease-fire is not necessary.
Kyiv seized a expanse of the Kursk place in a stealth invasion in August, a shift seen as an effort to distract Russian forces from eastern Ukraine and use the country as a bargaining chip in any peace talks.
With the support of North Korean troops, Russian forces are now using this tactic to force the Ukrainians out of Kursk. More than half of Kursk’s original territory was seized by Russia, which now includes more than half of it.
Zelenskyy told reporters on March 14 that the situation in Kursk was “obviously very difficult”.
Putin also mentioned the possibility that Ukraine might use the 30-day period to mobilize and train its forces, or to rearm with the aid of the West, among other concerns Putin raised about the cease-fire proposal.
He also brought up the question of how the nearly 2, 000-kilometer front would be monitored. Zelenskyy told reporters that the front could be monitored by US satellites.
Experts had warned that Putin would likely try to delay cease-fire negotiations because his forces are stronger on the battlefield.
Russia is expanding its territory in eastern Ukraine despite having high human and material costs because of its significant manpower advantage, aside from Kursk’s advances.
However, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has stopped Russian forces at the gates of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub in Donetsk region, after months of fighting on the outskirts of the city. Due to the incursion into Kursk, Zelenskyy claimed that his troops had been given time to defend the city because of the country’s pullout.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson are the four regions of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed in September 2022. A cease-fire freezing the current front lines would leave them short of that goal.
” One way the Russians could slow down this process, without coming out directly and saying “no,” is by dragging out those technical discussions on monitoring” the cease-fire, according to Hardie.
That could also give them ways to try to pin the blame on Ukraine, he added, by insisting on certain technical issues that Ukraine might find objectionable.
