MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
We're going to speak next about a phone call. President Trump is set to speak tomorrow with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as the U.S. continues to pursue a ceasefire deal in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Trump sounded cautiously optimistic.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can. Maybe we can't. But I think we have a very good chance.
KELLY: Yet, Putin has raised concerns about the ceasefire plan. His critics in Ukraine and in Europe say Putin is looking to drag out negotiations and continue the war. To preview the Russian view, we are joined by NPR Russia correspondent Charles Maynes. Hey.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: So this ceasefire proposal is expected to be front and center on this call tomorrow. Sketch out for us, briefly, what exactly the proposal is.
MAYNES: Yeah. It would place a 30-day ban on all attacks by both Moscow and Kyiv. The idea being here that if it works, renew it and keep doing so as a path to eventual peace. Now, Ukraine signed onto the ceasefire plan following negotiations with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia last week. In doing so, Kyiv appeared to smooth over differences stemming from that combative Oval Office meeting last month, of course, when President Trump and Vice President Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the press. In the aftermath, that Trump put a hold on all American military and intelligence support to Ukraine. A penalty he had then lifted as soon as Kyiv signed on to the U.S. proposal. But the idea is that the deal has been always contingent on Russia doing the same. You know, will Putin reciprocate or not?
KELLY: Well, and will Putin reciprocate or not? What do we know about his view of this deal?
MAYNES: Well, in public comments, Putin has complimented Trump for his noble mission of peace. He's agreed to the ceasefire plan in principle. But Putin has also raised all sorts of issues that he say require further discussions, including who would monitor the ceasefire. Russia has ruled out anyone from NATO member countries. Putin has also made it quite clear he thinks Ukraine signed onto the deal in order to stall Russian battlefield progress and therefore regroup - the same concern, frankly, that Ukraine has always had about Russia.
KELLY: Now, another piece of the backdrop here, Trump had his envoy - White House Envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow last week. He was discussing all this. Do we know where those meetings landed?
MAYNES: Well, Putin - yeah, he met with Steve Witkoff behind closed doors, where according to a Kremlin spokesman, Putin passed on additional signals to the American leader.
KELLY: Hang on. Additional signals - what does that mean?
MAYNES: Well, we don't know. But Witkoff later added that the U.S. was bridging the gap between the two sides. We do know that Putin wants a long-term settlement that addresses what he calls the root of the conflict. For Putin, that's NATO's expansion to Russia's borders, including, of course, possibly to Ukraine. But earlier today, I spoke with a former Kremlin adviser, Sergei Markov, who said the Kremlin fundamentally saw Trump as in a rush to rid himself of the Ukraine issue entirely. And Markov borrowed a metaphor from Trump's real estate days.
SERGEI MARKOV: For him, Ukrainian war just not profitable. Hotel, for example, building - it should be sold as soon as possible.
KELLY: A not profitable hotel, I think he just said there. I mean, Charles, speak to one criticism of Trump that he gave big concessions to Russia before these negotiations even began. Is Vladimir Putin giving up anything?
MAYNES: Well, the truth is we don't know. You know, Trump obviously has said Ukraine will not join NATO. That certainly sounds like a Russian demand. I was asking Markov, Putin's former adviser, what, if anything, Russia was willing to concede. And his answer gives some insight, I think. Markov said the mere fact that Russia isn't taking more territory - that is the Russian concession.
KELLY: Charles Maynes, thanks.
MAYNES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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