Russia has “always looked positively on any peace initiatives” with Ukraine and “we hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”, Vladimir Putin told state TV yesterday, less than 24 hours after his sudden and surprise “Easter truce” ended with both sides accusing each other of multiple violations.
The “sceptical view” is that the 30-hour cessation was “less about pushing for peace” and “more to do with maintaining good relations with the Trump White House” as it grows “impatient with the lack of progress on Ukraine”, said BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg.
“But there is also a more optimistic view” that while it was a “surprise” it “did not come out of nowhere” and was the result of “intense international diplomacy to try to end the fighting”.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s threat to walk away from the negotiating table last week “appeared to trigger Putin’s weekend offer” said The i Paper’s political editor Hugo Gye, “but hopes for a lasting ceasefire between the warring nations were quickly dampened after both sides accused each other of violating the short-lived agreement”.
Instead, the Russia president’s “hopelessly short-lived” truce appears “aimed directly” at Donald Trump and at “shifting blame for his disastrous peacemaking efforts in the Ukraine war”, said CNN.
“For Moscow, it seems, this was never going to be the beginning of the end of the war” but rather a “cynical public relations stunt” amid growing criticism that the Kremlin “had become a foot-dragging obstacle to peace”.
Volodymyr Fesenko, chairman of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies in Kyiv, told DW that Putin’s “urgent, unilateral ceasefire was intended to set a trap for Ukraine”.
“In exchange for accommodating Trump’s wishes – even if not fully – Putin could have also achieved some of his own goals”, said the German news outlet.
Among these, Fesenko points to the weakening of Western unity, reducing Russia’s dependence on China, and returning to the exclusive club of influential world leaders.
What next?
In what could be a “decisive week”, said the Kyiv Independent, Ukraine is set to continue talks with US and European countries in London on Wednesday, with the “primary task” of negotiations “to push for an unconditional ceasefire”, said Zelensky.
Kyiv is “under pressure” to respond to “a series of far-reaching Trump administration ideas for how to end the war in Ukraine” including “potential US recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and excluding Kyiv from joining Nato”, the Wall Street Journal reported.
If there is a “convergence among the American, European and Ukrainian positions, the proposals could be floated to Moscow”.
But Putin has so far shown little willingness to compromise, especially now he “feels he’s negotiating from a position of strength”, said Al Jazeera.
His aim is to “use the Trump administration’s self-professed ‘peace-making’ ambitions to his advantage”. Having launched a massive conscription drive, Putin’s strategy is to “drag out ceasefire negotiations until US military aid runs out and the Russian army is able to advance far enough into Ukrainian territory to force Kyiv into capitulation”.
