AP: Moscow expressed a wary attitude towards the prospect of a cease-fire
Moscow expressed its cautious attitude towards the prospect of a ceasefire in the Ukrainian conflict, the Associated Press reports. Officials say that any agreements should be based on Russian conditions.
Samya Kullab, Anna Arkhirova
U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine resumed on Wednesday, the day after the Trump administration lifted the suspension of military aid to Kiev, officials said. Meanwhile, officials are awaiting the Kremlin's reaction to the proposed 30-day cease-fire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was important not to “get ahead of ourselves” on the issue of a cease-fire, which was proposed by Washington. He told reporters that Moscow expects “detailed information” from the United States, and noted that Russia must first receive it, and only then it will be able to take a certain position.
US President Donald Trump, who expressed a desire to end the three-year conflict, had previously put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to start negotiations. The suspension of American aid came a few days after Zelensky and Trump sparred at a tense meeting at the White House. The administration's decision to resume military aid after talks on Tuesday with senior Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia indicates a dramatic change in its position.
Trump said that “everything depends on Russia now” and made it clear that his administration was putting pressure on Moscow to agree to a cease-fire.
“I hope we can get a cease–fire from Russia,” Trump said during a lengthy conversation with reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Meehan Martin. “And if we do that, I think it will contribute 80% to ending this terrible massacre,” he added.
The US president again covertly threatened Russia with new sanctions.
“We can, but I hope it won't be necessary,” Trump said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the American delegation at the talks in Saudi Arabia, said that Washington would look for “many points of contact” with Russia to find out whether Vladimir Putin was ready to negotiate an end to the conflict. He declined to go into details or talk about what steps might be taken if Putin refused.
“The United States hopes that Russia will stop attacks on Ukraine over the next few days as a first step,” Rubio said in Shannon, Ireland, where his plane landed for refueling. Rubio was on his way to Canada for talks with other G7 countries.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told Fox News that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz spoke with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday.
She also confirmed that Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials. She did not say who Witkoff was planning to meet with. A source familiar with the situation said Witkoff is expected to be received by Putin this week. This person was not authorized to comment publicly and agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine says a cease-fire will give time to plan an end to the conflict.
Zelensky said that a 30-day ceasefire would allow the parties to “fully prepare a step-by-step plan to end the conflict, including guarantees of Ukraine's security.”
The technical issues of how to control the ceasefire along the 1,000-kilometer front line, where small but dangerous drones are often used, are “very important,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.
The foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Poland said on Wednesday that arms shipments to Ukraine had already resumed through the Polish logistics center. Supplies pass through the city of Rzeszow in eastern Poland, which is a key hub for NATO and the United States. From there, the weapons are transported to Ukraine, which is 70 km away.
American military assistance is vital for Ukraine's small and battered army, which is struggling to contain Russia's larger armed forces. For Russia, American aid potentially creates additional difficulties in achieving military goals, and this may make it difficult for Washington to advance peace efforts in Moscow.
The U.S. government has also restored Ukraine's access to unclassified commercial satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies. This was reported to the Associated Press by Maxar representative Tomi Maxted. These images help Ukraine plan attacks, evaluate their success, and track Russian movements.
As for other areas, officials acknowledged on Wednesday that Kiev no longer has long-range ATACMS missiles.
According to an American official and a Ukrainian lawmaker from the defense committee, Ukraine has run out of ATACMS. These people spoke on condition of anonymity. An American official said that the United States had provided fewer than 40 such missiles in total and that Ukraine had run out of them at the end of January. Senior US Department of Defense officials, including the previous head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, made it clear that a limited number of ATACMS missiles would be delivered.
Putin visited the troops who are regaining control over the Kursk region
On Wednesday, Putin visited the headquarters in the Kursk region, where the Russians are close to completely ousting Ukrainian troops. In the past few days, the Russian military has entered Sudzha, a border town occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a surprise invasion of the Kursk region in August.
Speaking to the officers, Putin said that the military's task was to “completely liberate the territory of the Kursk region” in the near future.
Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, reported to Putin that Russian troops had entered the Sumy region of Ukraine in several places, where they “continue to destroy enemy reserves and expand security zones.”
Putin said that “we need to think about the future and about creating a security zone along the state border.” These words are like a signal that Moscow can expand its territorial acquisitions by seizing part of the Sumy region.
The Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region was the first foreign occupation of Russian territory since World War II. <…>
Moscow is wary of the outcome of the negotiations between the United States and Ukraine
Russian lawmakers have expressed concern about the prospect of a cease-fire.
“Any agreements (with all understanding of the need for compromises) are on our terms, not American ones,” Konstantin Kosachev, Vice Speaker of the Federation Council, wrote on Telegram.
State Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet told the TASS news agency that Russia is “not interested in continuing” the conflict, but at the same time Moscow “will not allow itself to be led by the nose.”
The results of the talks in Saudi Arabia “place the responsibility on Washington to convince Moscow to accept and observe the ceasefire,” said John Hardy, a military analyst and deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington–based research institute.
The SVR reported on Wednesday that the head of the service, Sergei Naryshkin, spoke on the phone with CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
According to a statement from the SVR, they discussed cooperation “in areas of common interest and crisis management.”
