Vladimir Putin has praised Donald Trump for “doing all the things” to enhance relations between Moscow and Washington, after Trump mentioned the US has had “superb and productive discussions” with Putin in latest days.
Putin informed a gathering of his safety chiefs that improved relations with the US have been now on the agenda. “We all know that the brand new administration headed by President Trump is doing all the things to revive at the very least one thing of what was principally destroyed by the earlier US administration,” he mentioned.
Putin additionally responded to an attraction by Trump to avoid wasting the lives of “1000’s” of surrounded Ukrainian troopers, and mentioned he would heed it so long as the troopers surrendered. Nevertheless, no proof has emerged to again up Putin and Trump’s claims that there’s a large-scale encirclement of Ukrainian troops.
The alternate of heat phrases between Trump and Putin is more likely to trigger additional alarm in Kyiv and European capitals, already spooked by indicators of the brand new US administration cosying as much as Moscow whereas exerting stress on Ukraine.
The remarks got here after Steve Witkoff, Trump’s shut ally and particular envoy to the Center East, held late-night talks with Putin on Thursday to debate the US proposal for an rapid 30-day ceasefire in struggle on Ukraine.
Kyiv has already accepted the proposal, whereas Putin on Thursday set out a collection of sweeping circumstances that may should be met earlier than Russia would conform to the truce, which incorporates the situation that Ukraine ought to neither rearm nor mobilise throughout the 30-day truce.
In a submit on Reality Social on Friday, nonetheless, Trump mentioned there was a “superb likelihood” the struggle between Russia and Ukraine might “lastly come to an finish”.
Trump additionally mentioned he had appealed to Putin to avoid wasting the lives of “1000’s of Ukrainian troops” supposedly surrounded by the Russian military. Putin first made the declare earlier within the week when he mentioned Ukrainian troops had been surrounded throughout a retreat from Russia’s Kursk area, and had the selection to “give up or die”.
Trump repeated Putin’s declare, writing that 1000’s of troops had been “fully surrounded” throughout the retreat. “I’ve strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This is able to be a horrible bloodbath, one not seen since World Struggle II. God bless all of them!!!” he wrote.
Putin informed his safety council that he had heard Trump’s attraction, and mentioned the lives of Ukrainian troops could be spared in the event that they surrendered. The Ukrainian army and unbiased analysts, nonetheless, denied there was an encirclement of troops.
“Studies of the alleged ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian models by the enemy within the Kursk area are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert stress on Ukraine and its companions,” the overall employees wrote in an announcement printed on its media channels. “There isn’t a risk of encirclement of our models.”
Ukrainian safety sources, unbiased army analysts and even pro-Russian Telegram channels disputed the encirclement claims by Putin and Trump.
Troopers preventing within the area say a staged withdrawal has been beneath approach for 2 weeks, and whereas many troopers have confronted a harmful and difficult path to withdraw, they don’t imagine there’s a mass encirclement of troops. “After seven months, we merely withdrew. There was no encirclement,” one senior safety official informed the Guardian on Thursday.
Michael Kofman, a army analyst at Carnegie Endowment, described the claims of a mass encirclement as “fiction”.
Some influential Russian pro-war army bloggers have forged doubt in latest days of the encirclement claims by Russian officers, saying not one of the indicators of such an motion have been seen.
Earlier on Friday, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, mentioned Putin had despatched Trump a message through Witkoff about his proposal for a ceasefire, including that it noticed grounds for “cautious optimism” {that a} deal might be reached.
Peskov’s assertion was echoed by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who mentioned there have been “causes to be cautiously optimistic”.
“We’ll study the Russian place extra intently and the president will then decide what the following steps are. Suffice it to say, I feel there may be cause to be cautiously optimistic,” Rubio mentioned. “Clearly, we’ll see what Russia and others are keen to do. It’s not simply Russia, clearly, it must be acceptable to Ukraine.”
Regardless of obvious optimism from the White Home, US intelligence companies have reportedly assessed that Putin stays dedicated to attaining “his maximalist aim of dominating Ukraine”.
The Washington Publish reported on Friday citing an intelligence report circulated amongst Trump administration policymakers on 6 March, which said that Putin stays decided to take care of management over Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reiterated on Friday that Russian makes an attempt to arrange circumstances for the 30-day ceasefire solely “complicate and drag out the method”.
“Russia is the one occasion that wishes the struggle to proceed and diplomacy to interrupt down,” Zelenskyy mentioned on X after a name with the secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. “Putin won’t finish the struggle on his personal. However the power of America is sufficient to make it occur.”
Zelenskyy emphasised Ukraine’s dedication to upholding the ceasefire, describing it as a chance to determine a long-lasting peace. “Throughout the interval of silence, we might put together a dependable peace plan, put it on the desk, focus on the main points, and implement it. We’re prepared,” the Ukrainian president mentioned.
Supply hyperlink
