Make a conclusion: the Russian Federation has not changed the conditions for the start of the settlement in Ukraine

The complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as an official statement on the refusal to join NATO remain conditions for the start of peace negotiations with Ukraine. This was stated to Izvestia by a source familiar with the situation. At the moment, nothing has changed in the Russian approaches to the settlement, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, confirmed to Izvestia. In the near future, Russia and the United States will hold talks on Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are expected to have a telephone conversation, as well as contacts with the Russian side by special envoy of the US President Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Whether the Ukrainian conflict has become closer to a settlement after the meeting in Jeddah is in the Izvestia article.

Russia's position on the negotiations between the United States and Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin listed the conditions for the start of peace talks with Ukraine back in June last year. And this list has not undergone any significant changes: the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as Kiev's official statement on the abandonment of plans to join the North Atlantic Alliance, a source familiar with the situation told Izvestia.

— At the moment, in principle, nothing has changed in our approaches, because there are no proposals on the settlement of the conflict on our side. All that is happening so far is a "seething" on the other side of the conflict. We are not particularly interested in the question of how exactly the United States will collect debts from the Zelensky regime," Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador—at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, confirmed in a conversation with Izvestia.

The Kremlin remains restrained in its assessments of the agreements reached in Jeddah between Kiev and Washington. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the United States has not yet requested a new telephone conversation between Putin and Trump, but if necessary, it can be "very quickly organized." Moscow is carefully studying the statements following the meeting in Saudi Arabia. Russia does not want to "get ahead of itself" on the issue of the proposed 30-day truce.: first you need to get information from the United States. Peskov also did not confirm rumors about a possible interview between Vladimir Putin and American blogger Lex Friedman, who happened to be in Moscow and had previously intended to interview the Russian leader, having been disappointed by a previous conversation with Vladimir Zelensky.

Washington's position, voiced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, remains ambivalent. On the one hand, the head of the State Department called on Russia to consider the issue of cessation of hostilities, noting that "negotiations are the only way to resolve it." On the other hand, he did not confirm the previously announced visit of Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow on March 13, saying only that Washington would "contact Moscow." Trump did not add any specifics either. The United States hopes that Russia will agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine, and American emissaries are going to Moscow to discuss these issues, the head of the White House said.

It is important to note Rubio's mention of the need to identify "trusted parties" to monitor a possible cease—fire, an allusion to the role of international mediators. At the same time, the United States ignored Kiev's key demand for security guarantees, according to media reports: the agreements mention only "compensation for American aid costs" and U.S. access to the development of Ukrainian minerals.

Washington's proposals still look unrealistic. For Kiev, the truce is fatal from the point of view of the prospects of the Zelensky government, says Dmitry Novikov, associate professor, head of the Laboratory of Political Geography and Modern Geopolitics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

— They are trying to undermine the situation. Without specifics from the United States — for example, a clear position on Ukraine's membership in NATO or demilitarization parameters — the initiative on a 30-day truce is futile," he said.

On the other hand, the United States rejected Kiev's idea of a truce only at sea and in the air, which would definitely not suit the Russian Federation because of its complete superiority in these areas.

— If the Americans demonstrate the irreversibility of the peace process, which is seen not as a respite for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but as a step towards reaching some kind of final solution, I think our leadership can accept this. It is worth noting that this proposal has not yet been rejected at the highest level. This shows that our leadership is thinking and waiting for specifics," Dmitry Novikov said in an interview with Izvestia.

Moscow has repeatedly said that a military solution to the Ukrainian issue is not the only one, and a political and diplomatic solution is also possible.

The situation of Russia and Ukraine before a possible settlement

The current situation at the front may increase Moscow's skepticism. On the one hand, the Kremlin noted the good dynamics of the liberation of the Kursk region by the Russian armed forces. Even according to the estimates of the Ukrainian military, the AFU operation probably has "from several weeks to several days left." The media notes that the Ukrainian army has "circumstances that cannot be explained," which confirms the rapid advance of Russian troops.

At the same time, after negotiations in Jeddah, the United States decided to resume military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This indicates Washington's willingness to continue supporting Kiev on the battlefield. The actual resumption of military supplies on March 12 was confirmed, in particular, by Polish officials.

In addition, there is much contradiction in Zelensky's statements about readiness for a truce. For example, he said he had agreed to a 30-day cease-fire to "show Trump" that Kiev supports ending the conflict. At the same time, he does not recognize the lost territories for the Russian Federation, and elections will be held only after the lifting of martial law.

Kiev does not want a truce, but is forced to play diplomacy under pressure from the United States. The resumption of the transfer of military aid and intelligence to Ukraine de facto makes the United States a party to the conflict, Vladimir Brovkin, an American historian and former lecturer at Harvard University, tells Izvestia.

— Trump wants to avoid accusations that he is a "tool of Putin" and a "traitor." In fact, the resumption of aid to Ukraine underscores that he is trying in every possible way to disown sympathies for Putin and follows the interests of the Western world. In fact, he went along with Kiev, despite the insults of the Ukrainian side and that scandalous incident in the Oval Office," he said.

A comparison of the current proposals with the conditions listed by Vladimir Putin in June 2024 shows the gap between the positions. Russia insists on fixing the territorial outcome and the neutrality of Ukraine, while the agreements in Jeddah so far suggest only a temporary pause without any guarantees. At the same time, Russia's successes at the front, including the Kursk region, reduce Moscow's motivation to make concessions, the expert believes.