Ukrainian ambassador supports talks with Russia but ceasefire needed
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States chalked up Vladimir Putin’s dismissal of the latest call for a 30-day ceasefire in the war in Ukraine beginning Monday to more of the same from the Russian president, stressing the unity among the U.S. and European leaders for a “full and unconditional ceasefire.”
“We have heard loud and clear from President [Donald] Trump that ceasefires should be full and unconditional. And we have heard from other European leaders,” Ambassador Oksana Markarova said Sunday. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukraine. The question of the day is whether Russia wants it.”
“Do you think he’s just stringing you along here?” “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz asked.
“Well, we have seen it since the day he invaded Ukraine in 2022,” Markarova said. “President Zelenskyy today already said that, yes, Ukraine is ready to negotiate. But he put a special emphasis on ceasefire. The idea that both he and President Trump strongly supports.”
On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders announced they had agreed to a ceasefire and demanded Putin do the same.
“All of us here together with the U.S. are calling Putin out. If he is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it, now,” United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Stamer said. “Putin didn’t need conditions when he wanted a ceasefire to have a parade. And he doesn’t need them now.”
But instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, Putin offered to hold direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey on Thursday. In response to that, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is “ready to meet,” but not without a ceasefire first.
Trump said Sunday that it was “a potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine!”
In response to that, Markarova said, “Any day potentially could be a great day,” but put the onus on Russia to accept the latest ceasefire proposal.
Since the now-infamous February Oval Office meeting that devolved into a public spat between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the rhetoric from top U.S. officials, including Trump himself, has shifted in Ukraine’s favor.
In addition to Trump questioning whether Putin is “tapping [him] along,” Vance said last week that the Russians are “asking for too much” in the negotiations and U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg called Putin the “impediment to progress.”
“How did they heal those wounds and end up here?” Raddatz asked of relations between Trump and Zelenskyy.
“We always focused our discussions on what can we do together as strategic friends and allies. And that’s why, just recently, we signed this comprehensive, economic partnership agreement to create reconstruction fund for Ukraine,” Markarova said.
“Sometimes friends can disagree. But that’s disagreement among friends,” she said. “We all have the same goals of sovereign and prosperous Ukraine.”
