What Trump asked of Putin on 14 March 2025

What did Washington ask of Moscow on 14 March 2025, and what had Moscow just said about a ceasefire? The two questions were linked by the sequence of events, as reported at the time.

On 14 March 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of "thousands of Ukrainian soldiers" said to be surrounded in Kursk Oblast. The appeal came in the context of peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow's conditions

The day before, on 13 March 2025, Putin had said that the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine would depend on Russia's conditions being met. He added that there would be further discussions. That framing left the ceasefire question open, and the public request on Kursk followed within a day.

Other developments on 13 March

On the same day, Putin announced a change within the Union State: Russian citizens permanently residing in Belarus would be able to vote and run in local elections in Belarus, and Belarusian citizens permanently residing in Russia would have the same rights in Russia.

Also on 13 March 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ukraine's government had failed to prevent, and had failed to properly investigate, the clashes in Odesa in 2014. The court ordered it to pay compensation.

What the sequence showed

Taken together, the reports showed negotiations in which Washington was making proposals and public appeals while Moscow set its own terms. The U.S. president's reference to soldiers said to be surrounded in Kursk Oblast placed the fate of Ukrainian troops alongside the ceasefire discussion. Moscow's answer on 13 March, with its stress on Russian conditions and further talks, defined the position from which that appeal was made.