Vladimir Putin in the Kursk region in western Russia, March 12, 2025

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: What Happens If Putin Rejects Ukraine-US Ceasefire Proposal?

Wednesday’s Coverage: Kyiv and US Agree Interim Ceasefire

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1834 GMT:

Despite Vladimir Putin’s effective rejection of the Ukraine-US ceasefire proposal, Donald Trump has said Putin “put out a very promising statement” although “it wasn’t complete”.

Unsurprisingly, he said he was willing to talk to Putin to secure a ceasefire: “I would love to meet with him or talk to him, but we have to get it over with fast….Hopefully Russia will do the right thing.”

UPDATE 1820 GMT:

Vladimir Putin has effectively dismissed the Ukraine-US proposal for a 30-day interim ceasefire.

At a press conference alongside visiting Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, Putin indicated that Russia’s ultimatum to Kyiv would have to be accepted.

We agree with the proposal for a ceasefire to cease hostilities, but we proceed from the fact that this ceasefire should lead to an enduring peace, and should remove the root causes of this crisis.

Putin said a ceasefire would give Ukraine a chance to rearm and regain momentum at a time when he claims Russia is advancing.

He questioned who would oversee the ceasefire. Then he dangled to Donald Trump the prize of direct contact:

So the idea is good, and we absolutely support it, but there are issues we need to discuss and I think we need to negotiate with our American colleagues and partners, maybe a phone call with President Trump.

Lukashenko added the warning, “If Russia agrees with the United States, Ukraine and Europe will be done for.”

Putin tried to pull back the threat:

If Russia and America agree to cooperate on energy — this is a pun because a pipeline in Russian means also being done for, so this will be to Europe’s benefit, because they will get cheap Russian gas. So they will have a pipeline.

As the audience laughed at the correction, Lukashenko assured, “That’s what I meant.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought you did,” said Putin.

UPDATE 1805 GMT:

Sweden has announced more than 1.4 billion Swedish krona ($137.2 million) in assistance to Ukraine, the largest ever civilian aid programme offered by Stockholm.

“Support for Ukraine is a matter of solidarity, but also of Sweden’s security,” International Development Minister Benjamin Dousa said.

A statement said the package will focus on “most urgent needs such as energy supply, housing, healthcare, mine clearance, safe schooling for children, vocational training for women and support for war veterans”.

UPDATE 1425 GMT:

Russia’s revenue from oil and oil product exports fell to $13.28 billion in February 2025, a 15.5% drop from January’s $15.72 billion.

In February 2024, the export figure was $15.89 billion.

On January 10, the US tightened sanctions on Russian banks and its “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, in one of the last actions of the Biden Administration.

Exports of oil and oil products decreased to 7.28 million bpd, falling by 100,000 barrels per day from January and by 500,000 bpd compared to February 2024.

UPDATE 1403 GMT:

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has posted:

UPDATE 1345 GMT:

Vladimir Putin’s aide Nikolai Patrushev has proclaimed that NATO is deliberately “escalating” tensions in the Baltic region.

As NATO steps up attention to Russia’s hybrid operations and several undersea cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged, Patrushev’s insisted that the bloc’s naval forces are working to “block” Russia in the Baltic while ignoring diplomatic engagement with Moscow.

Without providing evidence, he said NATO, particularly the UK, was carrying out cyberattacks on Russian ships’ navigation systems to create maritime emergencies.

UPDATE 1232 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted about Ukraine’s “entirely constructive” discussions with the US, including the ceasefire proposal:

Ukraine is committed to moving quickly toward peace, and we are prepared to do our part in creating all of the conditions for a reliable, durable, and decent peace.

He welcomed the US extending Kyiv’s proposal of an air and sea ceasefire to the frontline, and American willingness to organize the technical aspects”.

He said there were discussions on a security guarantee, amid Ukraine’s “cooperation with European partners and further joint steps”, and hoped that “US pressure will be sufficient to compel Russia to end the war”.

UPDATE 1205 GMT:

The Kremlin has given another indication that it will dismiss the Ukraine-US proposal for a 30-day interim ceasefire.

Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor, has said that the ceasefire is nothing more than a temporary respite for Ukrainian forces: “No one needs steps that just imitate peace actions.”

He said there can be no discussion of Ukraine joining NATO.

Ushakov, who was in the direct talks last month with US officials in Saudi Arabia, said he had passed on his concerns to the Americans, and hoped that Washington would take them into account.

UPDATE 1040 GMT:

Russian forces have reportedly executed another five Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kursk region in western Russia.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets referred to a video circulating on social media showing the mass killing.

“We once again see a cynical disregard for international humanitarian law on the part of the Russian army,” Lubinets said. He has sent letters to the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Ukraine has documented Russia’s execution of 177 captured Ukrainian soldiers as of mid-December 2024. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported a sharp rise, with 79 extrajudicial killings in 24 separate incidents since August 2024.

UPDATE 1034 GMT:

At least five civilians have been killed and at least 28 injured by Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Air defenses downed 74 of 117 drones launched by Russia on 11 regions overnight. Another 38 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Russia also launched one Iskander-M ballistic missile.

Three people were killed and 14 injured in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. One was slain and six wounded in the Kherson region in the south, and one was killed and two injured in the Sumy region in the north.

Casualties were also reported in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

UPDATE 1023 GMT:

Ukraine and Finland have signed a new memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation, including provisions on data sharing, ammunition production, and joint defense projects.

Finland announced another €200m ($217m) aid package for Ukraine. Helsinki has sent €3.3bn ($3.59bn) in assistance to Kyiv during Russia’s full-scale invasion.

UPDATE 0754 GMT:

At least 14 civilians have been killed and at least 41 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine on Wednesday.

Air defenses downed 98 of 133 drones launched by Russia on 15 regions overnight. Another 20 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Russia also launched three Iskander-M ballistic missiles against Odesa and Kryvyi Rih.

In Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a 47-year-old woman was killed and 16 injured by the missile strike. Three of the wounded are in serious condition. High-rise buildings, administrative buildings, buses, garages, cars, shops, and a school were damaged.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, seven people were slain and 13 injured.

Four Syrians were killed on their Barbados-flagged vessel when Russia struck a port in Odesa with a ballistic missile.

UPDATE 0742 GMT:

Russia has presented the US with a list of demands for any end to its invasion of Ukraine, say “two undisclosed sources”.

The officials said the demands have been discussed in face-to-face and virtual conversations over the past three weeks. They largely reiterate those previously made by Russia.

The sources did not detail the demands. Russia has insisted on formal recognition of its annexation of Crimea and four partially-occupied regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Ukraine must abandon its pursuit of membership in NATO and other security guarantees, and “demilitarize” as a “neutral” state.

“Western security officials” said earlier this week that Vladimir Putin has deliberately set “maximalist” demands on territorial concessions, peacekeepers, and Ukraine’s neutrality, knowing they are likely unacceptable to Kyiv and European nations.

UPDATE 0656 GMT:

An influential Moscow-based think tank has advised the Kremlin to pursue maximum objectives in the invasion of Ukraine, stoking tensions between the Trump Administration and other countries.

The think tank, close to Russia’s State security service FSB, Federal Security Service (FSB), submitted the document in February. It declared that “a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis cannot happen before 2026″.

The memorandum demands the “the complete dismantling” of the Zelensky Government.

It rejects any plan to send European troops into Ukraine to protect facilities — a line promoted in public by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — and insists on recognition of Russia’s annexation of seized Ukrainian territory. It calls for further occupation with a buffer zone in northeast Ukraine on the border with Russian regions such as Bryansk and Belgorod, and with a demilitarized zone the Odesa region in southern Ukraine near Russian-occupied Crimea.

UPDATE 0641 GMT:

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said:

We must move toward peace, toward security guarantees, and we need to free our people. We are determined to work as quickly as possible with our partners.

The key factor is our partners’ ability to ensure Russia’s readiness not to deceive but to genuinely end the war. Because right now, Russian strikes have not stopped.

UPDATE 0633 GMT:

Ukraine has exhausted its supply of US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles, say American and Ukrainian officials.

The Zelensky Government pressed the US for months to deliver the missiles, a range of 300 km (186 miles), until the Biden Administration finally agreed last April.

An American official said less than 40 were delivered and Ukraine ran out of them in late January.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Vladimir Putin signalled on Wednesday that he will not accept a Ukraine-US proposal for a 30-day interim ceasefire in Russia’s 36 1/2-month invasion.

Wearing military fatigues, Putin visited the Kursk region in western Russia, part of which Ukraine has held since a cross-border incursion last August.

In recent days, Russia — taking advantage of a brief suspension of US military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine — has regained much of the territory, including the city of Sudzha.

Putin declared on State TV, “I am counting on the fact that all the combat tasks facing our units will be fulfilled, and the territory of the Kursk region will soon be completely liberated from the enemy.”

Threatening to violate the laws of war, he declared that captured Ukrainian soldiers will be treated as “terrorists”.

The visit was only Putin’s second to the frontline during his full-scale invasion. On the previous occasion, to the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine and the Kherson region in the south in April 2023, he wore a suit rather than military uniform.

This is only the second time that Putin has visited Russian forces on the frontline since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Putin visited the Russian “Dnepr” Grouping of Forces’ headquarters in occupied Kherson Oblast and the “Vostok” Rosgvardia headquarters in occupied Luhansk Oblast in April 2023.[32] Putin wore a military uniform during his visit to the Kursk Oblast headquarters — a notable move as he wore a suit in his April 2023 visits to the frontline

Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrski, confirmed the reports of monitors that Ukrainian troops were pulling back:

In the most difficult situation, my priority has been and remains saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. To this end, the units of the defense forces, if necessary, maneuver to more favourable positions.

Syrskyi noted that the Russian military has been suffering heavy losses of personnel and equipment while trying to achieve “political gains”.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told a press conference, “The Russians are clearly trying to put maximum pressure on our troops, and our military command is doing what it has to do. We are preserving the lives of our soldiers as much as possible.”

Zelenskyy said he expects strong measures from the Trump Administration if Russia rejects the ceasefire proposal, “I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine.”

Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is expected to meet Putin on Friday in Moscow.