(TNND) — Ukraine has agreed to an American-proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia, which hasn’t said if it’ll go along with the plan to stop the fighting after three years.

“People are going to Russia right now as we speak,” President Donald Trump said Wednesday while fielding reporter questions alongside the prime minister of Ireland. “And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia. And if we do, I think that would be 80% of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished.”

The ceasefire breakthrough arrived in talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. also agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

The turnaround came after a tense White House meeting at the end of last month between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian foreign policy expert Mark N. Katz said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said all along that he’s not interested in a ceasefire, that he wants a comprehensive peace deal.

“So, the question is now will Putin play along?” said Katz, a professor emeritus of government and politics at George Mason University.

And, if Putin doesn’t, how will Trump react?

Trump told reporters that the U.S. can pressure Russia with sanctions if it doesn’t agree to the ceasefire.

“But I hope it’s not going to be necessary,” Trump said.

Katz said Putin isn’t likely to agree to a ceasefire.

Putin thinks he’s got the upper hand, though Katz said reports in the past week or so indicate the Russians have bogged down in eastern Ukraine.

Katz said the pause, even if it’s only for a month, could allow Putin to beef up his forces.

But if Putin is “looking for an off-ramp, this would be a good way to start,” Katz said.

Russia controls nearly 44,000 square miles of Ukraine, or close to a fifth of Ukrainian territory including Crimea and parts of Donbas that Russia had seized before its 2022 invasion.

Russia has taken over another 27,000 square miles of Ukraine since its February 2022 invasion.

Katz said Putin likely wants to not only keep what he’s gained but add the rest of the land in partially occupied Ukrainian provinces.

Russia wants limits imposed on Ukrainian military forces, Katz said.

And Putin wants a guarantee that NATO won’t admit Ukraine, which Katz said should be viewed as an untenable demand.

NATO was created in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

NATO membership is between NATO and candidate countries, Katz said.

“We don't bargain with other countries about whether who should and should not be a member,” he said.

The ceasefire, even with its temporary status, is about the best Ukraine can hope for now, Katz said.

Ukraine isn’t likely to get any lost territory back.

But Ukraine is likely to demand some kind of Western security assistance.

That would need to be a European deployment of troops.

“When it comes down to it, which European nations are going to actually send their troops? Seems like Britain and France are on board,” Katz said.

Trump is looking at the ceasefire negotiations through a largely economic lens, Katz said.

For the U.S. and Ukraine, there’s the deal over rare earth minerals.

And Trump thinks he can entice Putin with the lifting of economic sanctions or the hope of American investment in Russia.

“But we know that economics is not Putin's main motivation,” Katz said.

Peter Loge, the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, recently told The National News Desk that Trump views relationships transactionally, and his foreign policy is based on transactions.

“What do we get? What do we have to give up? And if we get more than we give up, then that's a win,” Loge said.

Katz agreed that Trump approaches foreign policy like he approaches business.

“He's bringing his own life experience to this, and he prides himself as being a great business dealmaker, although international relations I think is fundamentally different from the business world,” Katz said.