Putin Responds to U.S. and Ukrainian Truce Proposal and Other Headlines of the Day

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Top of the Agenda

Russia introduced new conditions to a U.S.- and Ukraine-backed proposal for a cease-fire yesterday. Putin stopped short of rejecting the proposal outright but suggested an interest in further bargaining. He met with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow last night; Witkoff relayed details of the U.S.-Ukraine talks earlier this week. A Kremlin spokesperson said today that Putin conveyed “signals” about Russia’s position to Witkoff and that there are grounds to be “cautiously optimistic.” He added that Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump would plan to speak directly on a call. 

The latest from Russia. In public comments yesterday prior to meeting Witkoff, Putin repeated some of his longstanding war aims in Ukraine. 

• A truce deal should be connected to removing the “root causes” of the war, Putin said. He objected to allowing Ukrainian forces to peacefully withdraw from Russia’s Kursk region, where they began an incursion last August; Russia has gradually reclaimed swaths of that territory. Notably, however, Putin did not repeat a previous demand that Ukraine withdraw from four regions claimed by Russia since its 2022 invasion.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Putin’s statements “manipulative,” saying that Putin “wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians.” 
• Trump called Putin’s statements yesterday “very promising” but “incomplete.”

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russia said yesterday that it had retaken control of Kursk’s largest town of Sudzha. Ukraine’s top commander said fighting was continuing around the town’s outskirts. 

Elsewhere in Europe. Ukraine’s European allies have floated several proposals for bolstering their support for Kyiv—and their general self-defense.

• Senior Polish officials suggested more than once this week that the United States move some of its nuclear weapons to Poland to increase deterrence against Russia on European soil.
• European Union (EU) leadership is drafting a proposal for collective arms purchasesthat would partly draw on its model of vaccine purchasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Times reported.
• European NATO members are ramping up defense spending, the alliance’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Trump yesterday at the White House.

“U.S.-Russia policy is always more effective when it combines deterrence with diplomacy. The Trump administration is right to take steps to restore more normal diplomatic relations with Russia. But it also needs to demonstrate clearly to the Kremlin that it is prepared to vigorously defend U.S. interests. With regard to the Russia-Ukraine war, that entails taking steps to preserve a genuinely independent and sovereign Ukraine and thus prevent Russia from achieving its maximal goals,” CFR Fellow Thomas Graham writes in this Expert Brief.

Across the Globe

EU invests in South Africa. EU leaders announced more than $5 billion in investments in South Africa yesterday and said they would begin talks on new trade deals with Pretoria. Leaders from the two sides held their first bilateral summit in seven years. The slated European investments are in areas including renewable energy and vaccine production; they come after the Trump administration froze most U.S. aid to South Africa.

Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks. The foreign ministries of the two neighboring countries said they are ready to sign a peace deal to end their almost forty-year conflict. They have neared such a deal before but hit hang-ups over issues such as Azerbaijan’s demand that Armenia change its constitution. The countries have agreed to resolve outstanding disputes, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said, without specifying how; they are now scheduling a date and venue for the signing ceremony.

Belgium’s Huawei probe. Belgian police carried out raids as part of an investigation into alleged bribery to benefit Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. Offices within the European Parliament are being investigated for potential collaboration. A Huawei spokesperson said the company “has a zero-tolerance policy toward corruption”; both the company and the European Parliament said they would cooperate with the probe.

Trump threatens alcohol tariffs. Trump said yesterday he would impose a 200 percent duty on EU alcoholic beverage imports if the bloc does not cancel its plans to impose a 50 percent tariff on U.S. whiskey. The EU duty is a reaction to Trump’s global aluminum and steel tariffs and is scheduled to take effect on April 1. It is part of a broader EU package that targets a variety of U.S. products, including bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

African troops to leave DRC. Thousands of troops from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania that were stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) force will gradually withdraw, the SADC announced yesterday. Public opposition to the force has increased after seventeen peacekeepers were killed in January. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the withdrawal also made sense in light of plans for peace talks between the DRC and rebel groups.  

Israel strikes Damascus. Israel struck a building in Damascus yesterday for the first time since Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa took over as interim president. Israel’s military said it targeted a headquarters for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; the militant group denied using the building for such purposes. On the heels of recent violence in coastal western Syria, Sharaa yesterday signed into effect a temporary charter for a five-year transitional governance period. It was not immediately made public.

UN report on Gaza health facilities. A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that Israel carried out “systematic” gender-based violence in Gaza, including by targeting fertility clinics and maternity wards, according to a report released yesterday. It was the first time a UN committee has said Israel committed “genocidal acts” under the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the accusations “baseless,” while Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva said the commission had a “predetermined and biased political agenda.” The report comes amid uncertainty over the fate of the current Gaza cease-fire and as Israel conducts a new freeze on aid entering Gaza.  

China, Russia back Iran’s nuclear stance. Senior officials from the three countries met in Beijing today and issued a joint statement calling for negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and an end to U.S. sanctions on Iran. Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader last week proposing a choice between talks or facing U.S. military pressure, after which Iran’s president said he would not negotiate while being “threatened.” China and Russia today backed Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is “peaceful in nature.”

The Weekend Ahead

• The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships visits Central Asia.

• Trinidad Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley will step down in a previously announced resignation.

• Runners compete in the Rome Marathon.