Several senior advisers to US President Donald Trump are advising him to be more skeptical of Moscow's desire for peace with Ukraine, arguing that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has not yet shown a genuine interest in ending hostilities. This was written by The Wall Street Journal's national security columnist Alexander Ward, reports UNN.
Details
He notes that a group, which US officials say includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, has recommended that Trump be more cautious in his dealings with Putin and take a tougher stance on Moscow's demands for territorial concessions from Kyiv.
Trump, however, still stands by envoy Steve Witkoff, who believes Putin wants to make peace after meeting with him twice in Moscow," - the author quotes unnamed officials.
He points out that Russia rejected Trump's call for a ceasefire and slowly moved away from his desire for a partial cessation of hostilities, "stalling for time, insisting on what was achieved on the battlefield and seeking maximum concessions in negotiations."
Trump hopes to partially stop the war in Ukraine in order to remove a serious obstacle to a wider rapprochement with the Kremlin. At times, he has appeared impatient with Putin, but has not carried out his threat to impose new sanctions on Russian oil exports," - the article says.
The journalist adds that even Trump's advisers who advocate a tougher approach to Moscow support his goal of stopping the three-year war.
"But Russia's ballistic missile attack on Sunday, which killed 34 civilians and wounded 100 more in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, underscored the divisions among Trump's senior advisers," Ward concludes.
Let us remind you
US President Donald Trump called the Russian attack on Sumy a "terrible thing" and added that the Kremlin "made a mistake." Assessing the situation in general, he criticized the very fact of the war in Ukraine. According to him, if he had remained the US president, the Russian invasion would not have happened.