Putin agrees to Trump’s ceasefire proposal, but insists on two conditions – Russian Foreign Minister

In an interview with CBS News, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that back in March, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested a complete ceasefire in Ukraine without any conditions. According to Lavrov, Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to agree but had a few requirements.
Lavrov explained that Putin supported the idea of a 30-day ceasefire, but he wanted to make sure past mistakes wouldn’t be repeated. He was referring to earlier agreements, like the Minsk accords and talks in Istanbul, where Russia claims Ukraine, with backing from the U.S. and European countries, broke the deals.
Trump wanted the fighting to stop completely and without any strings attached. Ukraine agreed to this on March 11. However, after Trump and Putin spoke, Russia said it would only agree to a limited ceasefire that focused on protecting energy infrastructure, not a full stop to the war. Even then, Russia didn’t fully stick to it and continued military actions for nearly 50 more days.
During the interview, Lavrov kept saying that Putin had agreed to a ceasefire, but he also admitted Russia had conditions. One of these was that Ukraine shouldn’t use the ceasefire to rebuild and strengthen its army, and that countries supporting Ukraine should stop sending weapons.
Lavrov insisted that this wasn’t a “precondition,” but rather a lesson learned from past failures when similar deals collapsed. He argued that Putin simply wanted guarantees that Ukraine wouldn’t take advantage of the pause to become stronger militarily.
When the interviewer pointed out that Russia didn’t truly accept an unconditional ceasefire, Lavrov shifted the blame, saying Ukraine had strong backing from Europe and the Biden administration.
He also criticized Western leaders, accusing them of wanting a ceasefire only to help Ukraine prepare for more fighting, not to genuinely end the war. Lavrov mentioned that NATO and European officials openly said they would only support a deal that helped Ukraine win.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that the coming week will be crucial for reaching a peace agreement. He expressed both hope and worry about how things will turn out.