On Monday, March 24, a ceasefire agreement meeting was held in Saudi Arabia between the United States and Russia teams. President Trump stated on Tuesday, March 25, at the White House that the US is reviewing the conditions proposed by the Russian side.
“We are currently considering all these conditions. There are five or six conditions. We are examining all of these conditions,” Trump said.
The President also mentioned, “We are making a lot of progress.” He added that there was “a lot of hostility” present during the talks.
“As you may see, there is a lot of animosity, but it (the talks) brings people together to mediate, arbitrate, to see if we can stop it (the war). I think it will work,” the President said.
Since last Sunday, March 23, the US has separately held talks with the Ukraine and Russian teams. The White House released two statements earlier on Tuesday outlining the consensus reached between the US and Russia, as well as the US and Ukraine during the talks.
According to these two statements, both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to cease attacks on Black Sea targets and energy targets. The US has agreed to push for the lifting of some sanctions on Russia.
The Kremlin stated that this fundamental agreement needs to meet several conditions from the Russian side before implementation, including lifting certain sanctions to allow Russia’s agricultural export bank to re-access the SWIFT international payment system.
Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that these agreements do not require the lifting of sanctions on Russia to take effect.
Both Russia and Ukraine have stated that they will rely on the US to ensure the implementation of the agreements, while expressing doubts about each other’s commitment to the agreements.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Tuesday that the new Black Sea agreement requires additional strict conditions. Russia will only sign if the US orders Ukrainian President Zelensky to respect the Black Sea agreement, and the US order must provide the “clear guarantees” that Russia needs.
Zelensky, on the other hand, stated that the ceasefire agreement will take effect immediately, and if Russia violates the agreement, he will ask Trump to impose additional sanctions on Moscow and provide more weapons to Ukraine.