Ukraine agreed to a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire at this week's meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, leaving U.S. Middle-East special envoy Steve Witkoff to travel to Moscow to sell the deal to the Kremlin too.

However, according to Vare, there are loose ends that need tying up. For instance, the mineral resources agreement, ostensibly the reason for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to Washington earlier this month, which ended in an ignominious standoff in the Oval Office.

The minerals aspect is absent from the latest deal, Vare said.

Other unresolved issues include the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children who have been taken into Russia, the return of detained adults, and prisoner of war exchanges. These are not addressed in the current ceasefire deal either, Vare noted.

Witkoff, not U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, is going to Moscow to present the ceasefire terms.

On this, Vare said: "At first, when they go to sell this to Putin – Witkoff was supposed to go to Moscow to discuss it – it is very likely that at least a part rejection will ensue. So the game goes on."

Russia is most likely to drag its heels on the ceasefire, he noted.

Some other analysts have said that Putin wants to achieve a decisive victory in the Kursk oblast, Russian territory which Ukraine launched an incursion into starting last summer. Russian forces have indeed made progress there in recent days.

What U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin may have agreed upon in private talks is also not known to many people.

Vare said: "Trump himself has confirmed that he has spoken with Putin multiple times."

"Not just Witkoff, who reportedly spoke [with Putin] for three hours. Trump himself spoke [with the Russian leader] and has allegedly had other contact as well. We do not know what was discussed," Vare went on.

As for Russia's negotiation strategy, this: "Has always been about making a maximalist demand, and then backing down at an unexpected point. I think this time they will also stay true to their approach in negotiations," Vare said.

EDF chief: Peace cannot be achieved in one fell swoop

Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) commander Maj. Gen. Andrus Merilo said the coming days will reveal how successful the U.S. has been in pushing Russia to the ceasefire negotiation table.

He, too, does not believe a quick peace, as sought by President Trump, is likely, adding this must be accomplished in a more granular manner.

The EDF commander said: "Achieving rapid peace in Ukraine is not viable. It must be done step by step, starting with small ceasefire proposals, and eventually reaching peace. The current situation is that Ukraine has lost part of its territory. This territory must also be regained at some point, either militarily or politically."

The opposing sides have used ceasefires as a cover to prepare for the next battles. Merilo stated that secretly moving forces is not possible due to current monitoring tools. It depends on what the ceasefire rules allow.

The BBC reported the talks in Saudi Arabia led to a joint US-Ukraine statement supporting a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.

The proposal includes an "immediate" ceasefire, but critics worry rushing this could empower Russia at Ukraine's expense.

NATO membership for Ukraine is not on the table at this point either.

Trump has tended to dismiss President Zelenskyy's concerns about Vladimir Putin's trustworthiness, claiming the Russian leader will be deterred and has "no choice" but to negotiate a deal.

A key victory for Zelenskyy and a necessary compromise for continued U.S. support has been the restoration of intel sharing and military aid to Ukraine.

Trump had temporarily halted this following the Oval Office meeting, presented in much of the media as something of a debacle, though the tense moments only made up a few minutes of an otherwise cordial 50-minute, to-camera meeting.

The ceasefire, while not long, could give Ukraine time to dig in more resilient lines, given the extent to which Russia has built up its Suorvikin line. How Russia, a country with a war budget less than half that of the "E5" group of European nations, responds to the ceasefire proposal may also involve the perennially secretive Kremlin revealing more of its cards on how it views the situation with Ukraine.

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