Putin’s New Condition for Ceasefire—Will Trump Agree? But What About Europe?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has obstructed the ceasefire from Ukraine. Just a few hours ago, US President Donald Trump had announced that Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a ceasefire in the Black Sea. After this, there was a hope that perhaps the Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end, but meanwhile Putin said that ceasefire will happen only when the sanctions imposed on Russia are lifted. Even if America accepts this condition, will European countries accept this condition?

Putin wants that the sanctions imposed on Russian banks should be lifted first. His demands include lifting the sanctions imposed on the state agricultural bank Russel Khoj and restoring the companies' access to the SWIFT international payment system. Many countries including America have imposed sanctions on Russian banks. They cannot make payments anywhere. They cannot take money from anywhere. This has affected the condition of Russian banks. But Putin's condition can be accepted only when the European Union also removes the sanctions. But the European Union stands with Ukraine and is demanding more sanctions on Russia.

What did Zelensky say

According to the BBC report - on the one hand there is talk of ceasefire, on the other hand Ukrainian officials claim that Russia carried out a drone attack on the port city of Mykolaiv at night. President Volodymyr Zelensky said, this clearly shows that Russia does not want peace. When Zelensky was asked whether he wanted to give relaxation in the sanctions, Zelensky said - there is no mention of such relaxation in the ceasefire agreement. Russia is trying to mess up the agreement.

How the war plays out

The Black Sea has not been a hotbed of fighting for some time. In the first phase of the war, Ukraine successfully targeted the Russian fleet in its Crimean home ports, and by last summer Ukraine said it had destroyed 28 Russian ships. With members of the Russian fleet fleeing south and east to Russian and Abkhazian ports, Ukraine was successfully exporting goods – grain exports were close to pre-war levels – via shipping that sailed along the Black Sea’s western coast.