Russia and Ukraine are ‘much closer’ to agreeing a ceasefire as their differences have ‘narrowed’, the US said last night.
The claim came with Donald Trump poised to discuss a peace deal with President Putin this week.
The US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited the Kremlin last week, said: ‘The two sides are today much closer.
‘I would describe my conversation with Putin as positive. We’ve narrowed the differences between them. Now we’re discussing how to narrow them even further.
‘Nobody expected progress this fast. Lots of things that remain to be discussed, but I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week.’
He added that Putin ‘accepts the philosophy of President Trump’, who wants the fighting to end.
Meanwhile, a former UK national security adviser has warned British peacekeeping troops will be at ‘considerable risk’ in Ukraine unless Donald Trump agrees to back them.
Lord Ricketts said any ‘reassurance force’ sent to Kyiv must be prepared to fight because Putin is ‘bound’ to attack them.
Lord Ricketts said any ‘reassurance force’ sent to Kyiv must be prepared to fight because Putin is ‘bound’ to attack them
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer sits alongside Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin (L) and Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sharon Nesmith
The claim came with Donald Trump poised to discuss a peace deal with President Putin this week
The Russian leader was ‘playing for time’, he added, so his army can continue gaining ground in Ukraine.
‘He’s avoiding saying ‘no’ to Trump, but he’s stringing it out,’ he said. Sending a European peacekeeping force into Ukraine, including British soldiers, would be ‘very risky’, he added.
‘To be credible, a deterrent force has to be willing to fight.
‘The only way to avoid [fighting the Russians] is to have a cast-iron American guarantee that if the force got into trouble, the Americans would come and support them.
Trump’s brand is to pull Americans out of military conflict, so I don’t think he will give a credible guarantee that if a European force got into real trouble, he would come to the rescue and take on the Russians directly.’
Lord Ricketts added that Putin’s army is ‘bound to take on the force in some way, either with conflict directly or dark arts, deniable operations, sabotage – it would be a very risky situation’.
European military chiefs will meet in London on Thursday to formulate ‘robust’ plans for ensuring Ukraine’s security. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be willing to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
It is understood that Russia is demanding four conditions (Pictured: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin)
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be willing to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire with Russia
However, it is understood that Russia is demanding four conditions: international recognition that Russia gets to keep all Ukrainian territory it has already seized; limits on Ukraine’s ability to mobilise its military; a halt to Western military aid in Ukraine; and total surrender in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion last year.
Last night, Ukraine was still clinging on in Kursk after its forces were ousted from Sudzha, the biggest town it had seized in the region. Moscow said it had moved 371 civilians to safety.
Mr Zelensky said Russia continued to pound Ukraine with artillery fire.
Writing on Telegram he said: ‘This is definitely not what those who want the war to end as soon as possible do.’
In other developments, a Russian air strike on Kherson hit a residential area on Saturday, killing a 43-year-old man. Pictures showed his mother and sister mourning amid the rubble.
And Mr Zelensky yesterday appointed Andrii Hnatov as the new chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, as the country looks to further strengthen its military.
