French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy say Russia should accept a U.S.-brokered cease-fire with no preconditions.
Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington will assess Moscow’s conditions for accepting the cease-fire.
At a joint press conference with Zelenskyy in Paris on March 26, Macron accused Russia of displaying a “desire for war” and insisted Moscow must accept the 30-day cease-fire “without preconditions.”
“This is a decisive phase to put an end to the war of aggression,” Macron said. On March 27, he will host delegations from the “coalition of the willing” -- a group of Ukraine’s allies seeking to aid Kyiv and secure a lasting cease-fire with Russia.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, expressed hope that the United States wields enough influence to compel Russia into an unconditional cease-fire aimed at halting strikes in the Black Sea.
However, Washington says it will consider Russia’s conditions, which Moscow insists must be met before it agrees to the cease-fire.
"We're going to evaluate that. Some of those conditions include sanctions that are not ours – they belong to the European Union," Rubio said at a news conference in Jamaica on March 26.
Macron, however, pushed back, saying in Paris that it was “much too early” to consider lifting sanctions against Russia.
"We're not going to lift the sanctions, so it's much too early. Ultimately, sanctions depend solely on Russia's choice of aggression, and therefore, their lifting depends solely on Russia's choice to comply with international law," he said.
In addition to the Black Sea cease-fire, the White House said on March 25 that separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia this week resulted in an agreement "to develop measures for implementing" recent commitments to halt strikes on energy facilities.