A particular envoy of United States President Donald Trump is visiting Russia, as Washington and Moscow have entered crunch time in hammering a ceasefire deal that will briefly halt the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Thursday {that a} US delegation will have interaction in discussions with Russian counterparts, as Russia’s state-run TASS information company reported {that a} aircraft carrying US envoy Steve Witkoff had landed in Moscow.
The event got here as Russia claimed on Thursday to have recaptured key territory within the Kursk area from Ukraine, signalling its higher hand in negotiations.
Witkoff, Trump’s Center East envoy, has been enjoying a rising position in efforts to result in an finish to the three-year Ukraine conflict.
Trump stated on Wednesday that “it’s as much as Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to conform to a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine stated it will assist.
Peskov wouldn’t touch upon Moscow’s view of the ceasefire proposal. “Earlier than the talks begin, and so they haven’t began but, it will be improper to speak about it in public,” he informed reporters.
Nevertheless, high Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, informed state tv that he had spoken to US Nationwide Safety Adviser Mike Waltz to stipulate Russia’s place on the ceasefire proposal.
“I acknowledged our place that that is nothing aside from a short lived respite for the Ukrainian army, nothing extra,” stated Ushakov, a former ambassador to Washington who speaks for Russian President Vladimir Putin on main overseas coverage points.
“It appears to me that nobody wants any steps that [merely] imitate peaceable actions on this state of affairs,” he added on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the shortage of a “significant” response to the US ceasefire plan indicated the Kremlin needed to maintain preventing in Ukraine.
“Regrettably, for greater than a day already, the world has but to listen to a significant response from Russia to the proposals made,” he stated. “We hope that US strain might be ample to compel Russia to finish the conflict,” Zelenskyy stated in an announcement on social media.
On Wednesday, Peskov stated it was necessary to not “get forward” of the query of responding to the ceasefire proposal and steered {that a} telephone name between presidents Putin and Trump to debate the matter might happen.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow on Thursday, stated Witkoff is because of meet high-level Russian officers, together with Putin.
“What we’re listening to unofficially is that Russia will probably hand its personal listing of calls for earlier than responding to this 30-day proposal by the Individuals. They’ll preserve their place which they did previously. They need Ukraine to drop its calls for to hitch NATO. They don’t need any overseas troops on Ukrainian territory, and so they need recognition of the roughly 20 % of Ukrainian land that Russia occupies,” she stated.
Retaking territory in Kursk
Forward of the talks, Putin ordered the swift defeat of Ukrainian forces in western Russia, because the Ministry of Defence stated troopers had retaken Sudzha, a key city within the Kursk area, and different settlements, from Ukraine.
Russia’s advances alongside the entrance in latest months and Trump’s try and strike a peace deal to finish the three-year battle have raised fears that Kyiv might lose the conflict.
Wearing inexperienced camouflage uniform, Putin was seen on Wednesday visiting the Kursk area the place Ukraine is about to lose its foothold after a lightning offensive by Russian forces.
“Our activity within the close to future, within the shortest attainable timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched within the Kursk area,” stated Putin, a former KGB officer who very hardly ever wears army uniform.
“And naturally, we’d like to consider making a safety zone alongside the state border,” stated Putin. He didn’t point out the ceasefire plan.
Moscow-based overseas coverage analyst Andrey Kortunov, a member of the Valdai Dialogue Membership, informed Al Jazeera that by showing in Kursk, Putin “needed to challenge his confidence that Russia is on the offensive”.
“His message is that no matter Ukraine nonetheless management within the Kursk area can’t be used as a type of leverage to make any territorial” declare throughout the talks, he added.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Sumy in Ukraine, stated Russian drones proceed to hit positions contained in the nation.
“The folks we speak to listed below are extremely sceptical of any ceasefire settlement, if certainly the Russians agree to 1,” he stated.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has left a whole lot of 1000’s of lifeless and injured, displaced thousands and thousands of individuals, decreased cities to rubble and triggered the most important confrontation between Moscow and the West in six many years.
