Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of Vladimir Putin – including he’ll know quickly if the Russian chief is simply “tapping” him alongside.
The US president informed reporters on the White Home that he believed his counterpart in Moscow could also be deliberately delaying ceasefire talks, whereas he additionally expressed disappointment at heavy Russian bombing over the weekend.
Whereas Mr Trump has to date stopped in need of imposing sanctions – to keep away from, he says, “screwing up” negotiations – he warned his stance might change.
Ukraine Q&A: Are we any nearer to battle ending?
The president mentioned: “We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” including that he “can’t tell you” if Mr Putin wished peace.
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Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
His feedback within the Oval Workplace got here minutes after Russia’s overseas minister introduced that the Kremlin had supplied Ukraine a second spherical of talks on 2 June in Istanbul.
Kyiv didn’t instantly reply to the proposal, which Sergei Lavrov mentioned would see Moscow hand their proposals for a possible peace deal on to Ukraine.
“We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul,” Mr Lavrov added.
Afterward Wednesday, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov mentioned his authorities was “not against” additional conferences, however known as for Russia to ship its memorandum to Kyiv beforehand.
The phrases that counsel Russia’s proposal for talks are only for present
By being the primary to suggest a date and site for the second spherical of direct talks, Russia is attempting to painting itself because the principal driver in direction of peace.
Its latest barrage of assaults on Ukraine have drawn harsh phrases from Donald Trump.
That is an try to assuage his considerations and to point out Washington that Moscow continues to be all in favour of a deal.
However it feels far more performative than anything, as a result of Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov’s assertion makes it clear that Russia’s place hasn’t softened one bit.
Referring to a memorandum outlining the contours of a settlement, he mentioned it particulars “all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis”.
In Moscow’s opinion, the “root causes” of the battle had been NATO enlargement and the persecution of Russian audio system in jap Ukraine.
So, if that is the premise of its memorandum, then the doc will basically be a listing of Moscow’s maximalist calls for, together with everlasting neutrality for Ukraine.
Lavrov additionally confirmed that Russia’s delegation will once more be led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who Kyiv final time dismissed as being too junior for the talks to attain something significant.
Expectations of a breakthrough at spherical two will probably be equally low.
In the meantime, Mr Lavrov additionally hit out at Germany for agreeing to finance the manufacturing of long-range missiles in Ukraine, accusing Berlin of displaying it’s “already a participant in the war”.
Nevertheless, German chief Friedrich Merz declined to say that his nation would hand over the Taurus missiles that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who was in Berlin on Wednesday – has lengthy wished.
Ukraine’s want for ammunition has turn into all of the extra pressing after Russia launched a number of the largest aerial assaults of the battle to date over the weekend.
Russia mentioned it had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 areas in a single day, whereas Ukraine mentioned it had struck a number of weapon manufacturing websites.
Kyiv, in flip, mentioned Moscow had launched 88 drones and 5 ballistic missiles since Tuesday.
