Former national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday that a ceasefire deal with Russia is not “in Ukraine’s interest,” but the war-torn country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “had to agree” to the U.S. framework after his disastrous Oval Office meeting last month with President Trump.
“I don’t think, frankly, a ceasefire is in Ukraine’s interest,” Bolton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“I think Zelensky had to agree to the ceasefire in Saudi Arabia because he needed to get U.S. military assistance, intelligence assistance, turned back on. He had to try and repair the damage from the debacle in the Oval Office. So, of course, he agreed to it, and he did get the military assistance turned back on,” Bolton added.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and emerged from the talks with a Ukraine-backed proposal for a 30-day truce. For the first time, the U.S. shifted the pressure to Russia in Trump’s push for a ceasefire, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the geopolitical ball was now in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court.
Lawmakers expressed skepticism that Putin would endorse a ceasefire, but Bolton said Putin is likely to want to consider his options carefully — especially since he’s enjoyed an elevated status on the world stage since Trump has reentered the picture.
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t trust Russia to negotiate in good faith, and up until now — because Donald Trump has effectively flipped the American position to be supportive of Russia — the Russians have had no incentive to negotiate,” Bolton said.
“Now, I think after the meeting in Jeddah yesterday, Putin wants to be careful he doesn’t lose what he’s got from Trump, so he’ll have to think about this pretty carefully,” he added.
Bolton noted that a ceasefire agreement based on the front lines as they are now would benefit Russia, since it occupies 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, according to Bolton. He suggested Putin might agree “in principle” to a ceasefire but then prolong the talks sorting through details.
“It’s one thing to sit in a conference room somewhere and say, let’s have a ceasefire,” Bolton added. “It’s another thing for the people on the ground to know exactly what that means, and negotiating the specifics can take quite some time if you don’t have the parties both willing to do it.”