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Russia has presented the US with a list of demands for a deal to end its invasion of Ukraine and reset relations with Washington, it has been reported.
The demands were submitted to Washington after Ukraine accepted a 30-day proposal discussed with the US during peace talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
It is unclear what was included in that letter but former, senior British officials with a focus on Russia have suggested to The Independent that Moscow will try to extract maximal demands from Washington in exchange for a ceasefire.
They say it will likely include calling for Ukraine to disarm and for it to be barred from joining NATO or the European Union, tantamount to making Ukraine a “non-country”.
The Ukraine-US talks in Saudi Arabia produced a commitment that the US would renew intelligence and “security support” after suspending both last week following a disastrous White House meeting between President Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
On Wednesday it emerged that UK officials, including a Downing Street fixer, were reportedly “intimately involved” in brokering the talks.
Below we look at everything we know about the ceasefire deal so far.
What are Vladimir Putin’s demands?
Russian sources told Reuters that Vladimir Putin is unlikely to agree to the deal before the Kremlin’s concerns are addressed. Moscow would need to hash out the terms of the ceasefire and obtain some form of guarantees, the senior source said.
“It is difficult for Putin to agree to this in its current form,” the source said. “Putin has a strong position because Russia is advancing.” Without guarantees alongside a ceasefire Russia’s position could swiftly become weaker, the source added.
Another source said the proposal appeared to be a trap from Moscow’s perspective – because Putin would find it hard to halt the war without concrete guarantees or pledges.
A third source said the US had simply agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing, and decorated that move with a ceasefire proposal.
The Russian leader has said he is open to discussing a peace deal. But he and his diplomats have repeatedly stated they are against a ceasefire and would seek a deal that safeguards Russia’s “long-term security”, a euphemism for opposing Ukraine’s sovereign right to choose to align with Nato and the EU.
Previously, Mr Putin has ruled out territorial concessions and said Ukraine must withdraw fully from four Ukrainian regions claimed and partly controlled by Russia.
What are Ukraine’s demands?
Mr Zelensky has called on Russia to accept the ceasefire deal his team has agreed with the United States.
He posted on X: “Our position remains absolutely clear: Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war, and we want to do everything to achieve it as soon as possible and in a reliable way—so that war does not return.
“Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal—we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it. Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same. If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately.”
After the eight-hour discussion with the American delegation on Tuesday, Ukraine said it “expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation”.
The statement added: “The United States will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.”
Mr Zelensky said at the meeting that Ukraine proposed three key points: silence in the skies, silence at sea and the release of prisoners of war and detainees—both military and civilian. Silence in the skies means a stop to missile strikes, bombs, and long-range drone attacks; silence at sea means the safe transportation of shipping goods.
These proposals were reportedly drafted with the help of UK national security advisor Jonathan Powell, who visited Mr Zelensky in Kyiv on the weekend. Mr Powell also worked with US counterpart Mike Waltz and German and French officials to fashion a plan for the ceasefire, government sources told the BBC.
Proposals drafted with Mr Powell reportedly included a temporary pause in fighting, prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
Mr Zelensky says a more permanent ceasefire is not possible without some form of American security guarantees. His ultimate goal is Nato membership for Ukraine but the US appears to have ruled that out.
Previous suggestions that they will not stop fighting until Russian forces are pushed completely out of Ukraine, including from Crimea, seem to have been dropped.
What has the US said?
Mr Trump claims he has received “positive messages” about the ceasefire from Moscow and reiterated on Wednesday that he would “do things financially that would be very bad for Russia” if they did not accept it.
He said that a ceasefire would make sense for Moscow but said there was “a lot of downside for Russia too”, without elaborating.
“We have a very complex situation solved on one side, pretty much solved. We’ve also discussed land and other things that go with it,” he said.
“We know the areas of land we’re talking about, whether it’s pull back or not pull back.”
He acknowledged that positive signals from the Russians meant “nothing” until a deal had been signed. Much of Europe and Ukraine believe Mr Putin’s positive signals will continue to mean nothing even after a peace agreement is signed; history is filled with examples of Russia, under Mr Putin’s leadership, breaking ceasefire agreements, they say.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who led the delegation in Saudi Arabia, said after the talks that the US would take the offer to Russia, and the ball is in Moscow’s court. “Our hope is that the Russians will answer ‘yes’ as quickly as possible, so we can get to the second phase of this, which is real negotiations,” he told reporters.
What happens now?
Mr Rubio said the plan would be delivered to the Russians through multiple channels. The Kremlin says it will respond after the US has discussed with them the details of the proposal agreed by Ukraine.
Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, is due to meet his Russian counterpart in the coming days and Mr Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday.
In the meantime, fighting continues. Russian forces are in the middle of a major counteroffensive in the border region of Kursk. They could retake the salient soon, removing a key territorial bargaining chip for Ukraine.
Mr Putin, donning military fatigues, visited troops in Kursk on Wednesday. It is the first time he has visited the frontline in three years of war against Ukraine. It is telling that he did so less than 24 hours after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire.
Moscow also continues to launch hundreds of missiles and drones at civilian-populated cities and towns across Ukraine each night.
