On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that no meeting between his country's leader Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart is planned until an agenda for such a potential summit is drawn. In Kyiv, this was interpreted as another act of Moscow's time-wasting tactics. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that the Russians are currently doing everything possible to prevent the meeting from taking place.
Reacting to the Kremlin's hesitation, US President Donald Trump said he was giving Putin "a few more weeks," but he did not specify whether Russia should fear sanctions. He hinted on social media, though, that maybe Ukraine's defensive actions against the invasion should also include going on the attack - which is a fundamental policy shift, never seen before since he took office.
Meanwhile, Western countries are preparing security guarantees for Ukraine. During his Friday visit to Kyiv, NATO chief Mark Rutte emphasized that they would ensure that Putin would never even consider attacking Ukraine again. In turn, following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Ukrainian president's office head, Andriy Yermak, announced that the first drafts of security guarantees for Ukraine would be announced next week. On Sunday Ukraine will celebrate its Independence Day. American envoy Keith Kellogg is scheduled to arrive in Kyiv for the occasion.
One of Moscow's ultimatums for achieving peace is for Ukraine to formally cede to Russia all of its Donbas region. Speaking in Kyiv during National Flag Day ceremonies on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his country will do no such thing, and that the ultimate goal is to recover all the Ukrainian land illegally taken by Putin's invaders, first in 2014 and then from 2022.
(mm)
Source: IAR