Russia and the US have discussed the “next steps” of how to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said yesterday, hours after Kyiv’s European allies urged Moscow to commit to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
The US this week proposed the halt in fighting in the more than three-year war after talks in Saudi Arabia, which Kyiv agreed to.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given no clear answer, instead listing a string of conditions and raising “serious questions” over the proposal.
Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said the Kremlin did not want to end the war and warned that Moscow wanted to first “improve their situation on the battlefield” before agreeing to any ceasefire.
Moscow yesterday said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and that the pair had discussed “concrete aspects of the implementation of understandings” at a US-Russia summit in Saudi Arabia last month.
US Department of State spokeswoman Tammy Bruce on Saturday said that the pair had “discussed the next steps” on Ukraine.
The Riyadh gathering was the first high-level meeting between the US and Russia since Moscow launched its invasion.
The call came hours after the UK hosted a virtual summit on Ukraine, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accusing Putin of “dragging his feet” on the ceasefire. “The ‘yes, but’ from Russia is not good enough,” Starmer said, calling for a stop to the “barbaric attacks on Ukraine once and for all.”
Regarding a ceasefire agreement and the stationing of peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, French President Emmanual Macron on Saturday said: “Ukraine is sovereign. If it asks for allied forces to be on its territory, it’s not something for Russia to accept or not.”
Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of soldiers from countries belonging to the NATO alliance being stationed in Ukraine.
Macron and Starmer have been rushing to consolidate military support for Ukraine.
Macron said any peacekeeping force would consist of “a few thousand troops per country” to be deployed at key locations, adding that a number of European and non-European countries were interested in participating.
Russia and Ukraine have continued aerial attacks on each other in the Kursk region, inflicting injuries and damages, officials said early yesterday.
Yuri Podolyaka, one of the most influential pro-Russian military bloggers, said Russia had pushed back Ukrainian forces to the border in some areas, although intense battles were underway and that Ukrainian forces were fighting back as they retreated.
Battlefield maps from Ukraine and Russia showed two joined pockets of Ukrainian forces on the Russian side of the border in Kursk.
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