By Agence France-Presse
In a statement on Tuesday, May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he expected Russia to present a Ukraine ceasefire outline within days that will show if Russia is serious, even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of buying time.
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke separately by telephone to Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday, May 19, after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on May 16 for their first direct talks on the conflict in three years.
Putin has consistently rejected proposals for a 30-day truce put forward by Kyiv and its Western allies. But Rubio said that Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated they would present their own terms “maybe in a number of days, maybe this week hopefully.”
The Russians will offer “just broad terms that would allow us to move towards a ceasefire, and that ceasefire would then allow us to enter into detailed negotiations to bring about an end of the conflict,” Rubio said.
He said that the presentation will “tell us a lot about their true intentions.”
“If it’s a term sheet that’s realistic and you can work off of it, that’s one thing. If it makes demands that we know are unrealistic, I think that will be indicative,” he added.
After Trump’s call, Putin said he was ready to work with Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining a possible roadmap and different positions on ending the war.
On Tuesday, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Pope Leo XIV was willing “to host upcoming discussions between the parties at the Vatican,” according to her office.
‘Trying to buy time’
Meanwhile, Rubio insisted to critical lawmakers that Putin “hasn’t gotten a single concession” from Trump. But Russia has also not indicated any new flexibility since Trump took office in January with vows to end the war through dialogue.
Zelenskyy said in a social media post, “It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation.”
Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Rubio that Putin’s refusal to go to Istanbul despite the stated willingness of both Zelenskyy and Trump to meet showed “[Putin] believes it’s in Russia’s interest to carry out this war [for] as long as possible.”
On Tuesday, May 20, the European Union formally adopted its 17th round of sanctions on Moscow, targeting 200 vessels of Russia’s so-called shadow maritime fleet.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and lead economic negotiator with Washington, attacked the move, saying: “Western politicians and the media are making titanic efforts to disrupt the constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States.”
Rubio said that as of press time, Trump opposed new sanctions for fear that Russia would no longer come to the table. Moscow appears confident, with its troops advancing on the battlefield and Trump ending Western isolation of the Kremlin.
Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said the memorandum mentioned by Putin “buys time for Russia.”
He added, “The cessation of hostilities is not a condition for it, which means that Russia can continue its offensive.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has since destroyed swathes of the country’s east, killed tens of thousands, and now controls around one-fifth of its territory.
Trump is no ‘messiah’
People who spoke to AFP both in Kyiv and Moscow were skeptical about peace prospects and thought the Putin-Trump call had not brought them closer.
“I never had any faith in him and now I have none at all,” retired teacher Victoria Kyseliova said in Kyiv, when asked if she was losing confidence in Trump.
Vitaliy, a 53-year-old engineer from Kyiv, said Trump was no “messiah” and that little has changed in the U.S. President’s flurry of diplomacy. Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said Trump’s latest calls had only added to the uncertainty.
“This conversation not only failed to clarify the future of the negotiations but further confused the situation,” he said.
He said Trump had fallen for Putin’s tactics of trying to use talks “as a cover to continue and intensify the war.”
In Moscow, there was defiance and confidence.
“I believe that we don’t need these negotiations. We will win anyway,” said Marina, a 70-year-old former engineer.
