The Federation Council pointed to the risks of a cease-fire without specific agreements.

The United States and Ukraine must find a way to inform the Russian side about the outcome of their negotiations through official channels, rather than through the media. Moscow expects serious steps to resolve the conflict, as it understands that without specific agreements, a temporary cease-fire can be used by the enemy to build up forces. This opinion was shared with Izvestia on March 12 by Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.

On the eve of the meeting with American officials in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine expressed its readiness to accept the US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties. Washington, in turn, has unfrozen the supply of military aid to Kiev.

"We are through the mouth of the President [of the Russian Federation] Vladimir Putin and [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have repeatedly said that we are against a senseless and unspecified cease-fire, because it is all being used to restore and build up military forces and potential. We've already done this in 2015 and beyond," Karasin commented.

He stressed that Russia is awaiting the official results of the contacts between Kiev and Washington. The senator also added that the media in this case should be more responsible for the dissemination of news from representatives of the United States and Ukraine.

"We are on our guard, we do not want a repeat of the absurdity, after which bloodshed began and thousands of people began to die. Therefore, we are very responsible about all this. Every detail plays a role here. We will wait for concrete, serious steps towards resolving the conflict from, first of all, the Kiev regime," the source concluded.

In a forced detente: what the United States persuaded Ukraine to do in Jeddah

Kiev agrees to a settlement of the conflict and demonstrates "readiness for peace" by strikes on Russian territory.

On March 11, US President Donald Trump announced that he intends to obtain the consent of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a cease-fire in Ukraine. He stressed that he was going to have a conversation with the Russian president this week. According to Trump, representatives of the countries will also meet to discuss the Ukrainian conflict within a few days. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in turn, admitted the possibility of contacts between Russia and the United States in the coming days.