As Russian and U.S. officials prepared to speak about the 30-day ceasefire proposal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of looking to prolong the war.

“Putin is afraid to tell President Trump directly that he wants to continue this war and keep killing Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “That’s why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such preconditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long as possible.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Sputnik/Alexei Danichev/Pool via REUTERS/Leah Millis/Alina Smutko)

On Thursday, Putin said he agreed with the U.S. plan for a 30-day ceasefire in “principle,” but signaled that Russia would not be signing onto the agreement in its current form. Ukraine agreed to the plan following talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia, as long as Russia commits to the plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Rostelecom, Russia’s largest telecommunications provider, president at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 7, 2023. (GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump said on Thursday that if Russia does not come to the table and agree to the ceasefire, “it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world.” The president vowed throughout his campaign to end the Russia-Ukraine war, saying that if he had remained in office in 2020 the war, which began with Russia’s 2021 invasion of Ukraine, would not have started.