On Tuesday Ukrainian Dictator Vladimir Zelensky expressed his readiness to comply with a United States-developed ceasefire plan designed to protect energy infrastructure from strikes. This is similar to a previous ceasefire that Kiev had agreed to but has not obeyed. Russia has requested as part of this new ceasefire that the U.S. lift sanctions against it. President Donald Trump said that progress toward peace is being made at the negotiations his administration has organized, which are taking place in Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine’s Dictator agreed to the ceasefire in a rather rudimentary statement.
“We do not hit their energy. They do not hit our energy. I think there will be a million questions and details, but today it sounds like this: each side does not use the corresponding weaponry against the energy of both sides,” Zelensky said Tuesday.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed on Wednesday that Kiev is still bombing Russian targets, however.
Russia is requesting the U.S. remove its sanctions against it as part of the ceasefire. Ukraine’s Dictator appears to be upset that President Trump has willingness to do so.
“They will be looking at them [the sanctions], and we’re thinking about all of them right now. There are about five or six conditions. We’re looking at all of them,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
Specifically, the U.S. will likely restore Russia’s access to global markets, specifically for agricultural and fertilizer exports, decrease its maritime insurance costs and enhance its access to ports and payment systems for these transactions.
Ukraine’s Dictator had this to say about the possible easement of U.S. sanctions against Russia:
“We did not agree to this so that it would be in a joint document. We believe that this is a weakening of positions and a weakening of sanctions,” Dictator Zelensky said. “This was not on our agenda. The American side violated this. [Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem] Umerov contacted me. I said that this is not a discussion of an unconditional ceasefire.”
Regardless of Dictator Zelensky’s dismay at Moscow gaining increased access to commerce, President Trump hailed the progress his global peace plan is making.
“We’ve made a lot of progress on two fronts,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, referencing both Russia and Ukraine but also the Middle East. “We’ll see what happens. We’re in deep discussions with Russia and Ukraine and I would say it’s going well.”
While Trump lauded the progress toward the end of the war, on the same day he said Russia may be dragging its feet.
“I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they’re dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years,” Trump told Newsmax in an interview that aired Tuesday night.