US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he expected Russia to present within a few days the broad outlines of a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, which would allow Washington to assess whether Moscow was serious in its pursuit of peace.

“At some point in the near future — maybe in a few days, maybe this week, I hope — the Russian side will present the terms it would like to see,” Rubio told a Senate committee.

He said the timetable was set after President Donald Trump's conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on May 19 and after his weekend conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Russians will offer “only general terms that will allow us to move toward a ceasefire, and that ceasefire will allow us to begin detailed negotiations to end the conflict,” Rubio said.

“We hope that this will happen. We believe that the conditions that the Russians will propose will tell us a lot about their true intentions. If the conditions are realistic and can be met, that is one thing. However, if they contain demands that we know are unrealistic, I think that will be indicative,” he added.

Trump said after his conversation with Putin on May 19 that Russia was ready to start negotiations “immediately.”

Putin was more cautious and announced that Moscow would propose “a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement setting out a number of positions.” | BGNES