President
Trump optimistic about ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine
_US President Donald Trump has expressed hope
that US negotiators will succeed in brokering a ceasefire agreement between
Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, officials say that the US wants Russia to
be willing to unconditionally stop the fighting.
The Russian
government center, the Kremlin, has said that it is waiting for details of the
ceasefire proposals that were agreed upon after talks between the US and
Ukraine in Saudi Arabia this week.
However,
Russia has not indicated that it will stop the three-year-old war. Thousands of
people have died during the war, which began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
in February 2022, while a large number of the population in Ukraine have been
forced to migrate.
On
Wednesday, Russian state television showed President Putin visiting Kursk.
Russian forces have pushed back Ukrainian troops from the western Kursk region,
after which the president visited the front lines.
Ukraine took
control of the Russian region in a surprise attack in August last year.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it clear that Kiev is ready to accept
ceasefire proposals, while the United States has signaled that there will be a
“severe” response if Russian President Putin refuses to accept proposals to
stop the fighting.
“We have
some people going to Russia right now as we speak,” Trump told reporters at the
White House on Wednesday as he met with Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin. “I
hope we get Russia to agree to a ceasefire.”
He did not
say whether he would speak directly to Putin. However, he said he was getting
“positive messages” from Moscow and, “I hope he’s willing to make a ceasefire.”
The White
House said President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would visit Moscow
this week. Witkoff is one of the mediators in the Gaza and Ukraine talks.
The US
president said “very strong” sanctions could be imposed on Russia if it refuses
to accept the ceasefire offer, but added, “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Ukraine
ready for 30-day ceasefire, Trump administration lifts suspension of military
aid and intelligence sharing on Kiev
After talks
between high-level diplomatic delegations of the United States and Ukraine in
Jeddah, Ukraine had expressed its readiness for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
Following this development on Tuesday, the Trump administration has also
withdrawn its decision to suspend military aid and intelligence sharing for
Ukraine.
On the other
hand, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement while leaving to
attend the G7 meeting that the United States wants Russia to unconditionally
accept the agreement.
He said that
if Moscow’s answer to the ceasefire proposal is ‘yes’, then we will understand
that we have made progress in the right direction and that there are real
possibilities for peace.
According to
Marco Rubio, if Moscow’s answer is ‘no’, it would be unfortunate and this would
make their intentions clear.
Information
for this news was taken from the AFP news agency.
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