Putin wants all arms to Ukraine halted for Trump truce

Bloomberg News on Mar 18, 2025

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding a suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine during a ceasefire proposed by U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The two leaders are set to speak by phone on Tuesday about ending the war in Ukraine, with a key objective being the 30-day truce that Kyiv has already said it’s ready to accept. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the call is expected to begin at a time between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Moscow.

The Russian leader, who met with a Trump envoy last week, has made the halt to arms supplies a prerequisite for signing up to the ceasefire, said a senior European official and three people in Moscow familiar with Russia’s position.

Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House’s National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment.

While Russia wants to halt all weapons deliveries to Ukraine, the minimum aim is that U.S. aid should stop, said two of the people in Moscow with knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking.

The senior European official added that Europe was extremely reluctant to agree to Russia’s demand to block deliveries of weapons to Ukraine by its allies during any truce. That outcome would risk a situation where Russia was able to rearm during a cessation of hostilities, while Ukraine was prevented from doing so, the official said.

Putin has said he supports the U.S. proposal for a pause to the conflict in principle but insists that a number of conditions need to be met before Russia can agree to halt its invasion. The Russian leader will probably agree to a truce, though he wants to make sure his terms are included first, Bloomberg reported on March 12.

The U.K. and European Union are both working on efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages to Kyiv as soon as possible.

The U.S. and Ukraine announced the ceasefire plan last week after a day of talks in Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration also said it was lifting a roughly week-long halt to arms supplies and intelligence-sharing that it had imposed to pressure Ukraine into agreeing to diplomatic efforts.

Trump has offered to meet Putin as part of his bid to end the three-year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine that triggered the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II and a spiraling confrontation with the West. The truce would be the first step toward a comprehensive peace agreement.

The Trump administration has effectively already conceded Russian demands to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory and for Kyiv to abandon its ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That has fueled European concerns that any deal the U.S. president strikes with Putin will leave Ukraine weakened and vulnerable to Russia in the future.

The U.S. is also likely to want Ukraine to accept effective neutral status and some limits on its army and weapons, in line with Russian demands, said Cliff Kupchan, a former senior State Department official who’s chairman of the New York-based Eurasia Group.

The suspension of arms supplies sought by Putin would be temporary, with weapons flows resuming after a peace accord in which Ukraine should agree to limits on its military capability, said one person in Moscow.

Since the start of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, Ukraine has ramped up its domestic arms production from 10% to more than 30% of its requirements, but still relies on other countries for more advanced weapons. Europe currently provides around 30% of Ukraine’s military needs and the U.S. 40%.

In addition to the ceasefire, the phone conversation between Putin and Trump will also touch on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which has been occupied by Russia since early in the war.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the power plant, which lies deep inside southeastern Ukraine, is “on the border” between Russia and Ukraine. That stoked speculation about potential territorial concessions to Russia as part of the peace process.

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With assistance from Josh Wingrove.