About a month after parties in the Russo-Ukrainian peace talks accepted an immediate 30-day ceasefire, the world could see that Putin’s Russia is far from committed to a lasting peace. After its terse commitment to halt attacks on energy installations in Ukraine, massive onslaughts on Kyiv and other major cities have continued, and to the surprise of the U.S. President, who had boasted of bringing the war to an end in a few months. It must be more apparent to the peace party and negotiators that President Putin is resorting to his old playbook of distract and delay strategy, requiring stringent efforts and sincerity of the East-West divide to bring the war to an end.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has promised to bring a quick end to the three-year-old war, has for weeks said he believes Russia’s Vladimir Putin is committed to peace. On March 18, 2025, Trump and Putin spoke for over two hours in their first publicly known call since a ceasefire proposal was announced in Saudi Arabia. Both sides said Russia had agreed to pause attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine for 30 days and that teams would be created to launch talks in a broader ceasefire. Russia, however, said that a pause in foreign aid to Ukraine would be a key element to any peace agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said such conditions show Putin is not ready to end the war.
True to type, the so-called ceasefire has not put an end to bombings in Ukraine. The indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas has shown no sign of slowing down. Barely a week ago, Russia sent over a thousand drones towards Ukraine. In Kharkiv, a military hospital was targeted. A kindergarten was damaged. At least 25 people were hurt, including a 15-year-old girl left in a serious condition. Ukraine’s air force at the weekend said that they shot down 51 out of 91 drones launched by Russia overnight in the north, south, east and centre of the country. They added that 31 enemy drone simulators were lost in a location without negative consequences, meaning they used electronic warfare to intercept or block them. The country’s capital and its Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions suffered as a result of the attack. They advised citizens in Sumy to stay in shelters as more drones were heading towards the city and its surroundings.
Russian officials have been trying to discredit Ukrainian President since negotiations began in February in an apparent effort to undermine Ukraine’s position. For example, the Kremlin continued to accuse Ukraine of breaking a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which Moscow proposed on March 18 and Kyiv has not agreed to. Russian and Ukrainian technical teams have failed to determine what would be protected under the deal.
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said he would give his U.S. counterpart a list of energy facilities struck by Ukraine “so that they can present concrete evidence about what the word of the current Ukrainian authorities is worth if you can call them authorities at all”. Sergey Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, told an interviewer on Tuesday that the U.S.-led talks “leave no room for Russia’s core demand” to address “the root causes of this conflict”, which officials in Moscow have defined as reversing NATO’s eastward expansion and the treatment of Russian minorities in Ukraine.
Not backing down, Russia has added new conditions for a ceasefire to a litany of existing ones, prompting President Trump to threaten new sanctions against Russian oil. Visiting Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the Arkhangelsk, on March 27, Russian President said a temporary administration should be installed in Ukraine to lead the country to elections.
It must be clear to all parties that neither force nor sanctions would likely end this war and assuage the pain on both sides. After multiple rounds of sanctions (15 from the EU alone), government officials have grown wary of predicting their successful impact. But recent indicators are increasingly alarming for the Kremlin. With interest rates at 23 per cent, inflation running above nine per cent, a falling rouble and growth expected to slow dramatically in 2025, the strains on Russia’s economy have rarely seemed more acute.
Along with Russia’s staggering losses on the battlefield – western officials estimate that Moscow is losing an average of 1,500 men, killed and wounded, every day – the cost of this war could yet drive Putin to the negotiating table. But how much more territory will Ukraine have lost – and how many more people will have been killed – by the time that point is reached?
While the U.S. might be growing weary of Putin’s endless negotiation, European allies want Washington to demand Moscow prove it is serious by signing up to a ceasefire, with some suggesting that an explicit deadline should be set. The United States and other allies must go beyond politics to emphasise the need for accountability for these actions and renew their commitment to collaborating towards enduring peace. Contrary to Russian misinformation about the devastation in Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has categorically documented attacks on civilians, including conflict-related sexual violence and summary executions. The Russian State must commit to peace and demonstrate the sincerity of its words.
Russia has also called for a pause in foreign aid to Ukraine as a condition for a peace agreement. What is the U.S. and NATO’s plan towards this? That demand hits at the foundation of the war. Several countries are getting tired of the East-West conflict and having to take sides. However, the world could be more tolerable for all without the war or the more hypocritical actions of state actors across the board.
By and large, the devastating war needs a political solution, not more confrontations or militarisation of Ukraine. And to turn the tide, the United Nations, despite its challenges and limitations, should rally diplomats and Good Offices to negotiate an armistice. Regrettably, errant Russia must be brought back to the fold, granted a fair hearing and its agreements with NATO kept in line with the general principle of pacta sunt servanda. Lastly, all parties should bear the cost of rebuilding post-war Ukraine.
