MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their "noble mission" to end the fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
Putin made these remarks on Thursday while making his first public remarks on Ukraine's ceasefire proposal.
Putin confirmed on Thursday that Russia is ready to discuss a ceasefire but that the terms of such an arrangement should be clarified.
Putin has said as far back as July 2024 that Moscow is not interested in short-term pauses but is ready to engage on addressing the causes of the conflict, RT News reported.
Washington and Ukraine both endorsed a 30-day temporary truce following a meeting between their respective delegations in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
"Before I assess how I view Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, I would first like to begin by thanking the President of the United States, Trump, for paying so much attention to resolving the conflict in Ukraine," he said.
"We all have enough issues to deal with. But many heads of state, the president of the People's Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, the presidents of Brazil and South African Republic are spending a lot of time dealing with this issue. We are thankful to all of them, because this is aimed at achieving a noble mission, a mission to stop hostilities and the loss of human lives," Putin said.
"Secondly, we agree with the proposals to stop hostilities. But our position is that this ceasefire should lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the initial causes of this crisis."
Since the Ukraine conflict began in February last year, Prime Minister Modi has spoken to Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a number of times.
Prime Minister Modi, during a meeting with Trump at the White House last month, stressed that "India is not neutral" in its stand on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"India is not neutral. India is siding with peace. I have already said to President Putin that this is not the era of war. I support the efforts taken by President Trump," the Prime Minister had said.