The approaching week might deliver an vital second within the warfare between Russia and Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for the Kremlin to succeed in a peace deal approaches — or it might quietly move with out consequence.
Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff was anticipated in Moscow midweek, simply earlier than Trump’s Friday deadline for the Kremlin to cease the killing or face probably extreme financial penalties from Washington.
To date Trump’s guarantees, threats and cajoling have didn’t shift the Kremlin’s place, and the cussed diplomatic stalemate stays in place. In the meantime, Ukraine is shedding extra territory on the entrance line, though there isn’t a signal of a looming collapse of its defenses.
Trump’s envoy is anticipated in Moscow
Witkoff is anticipated to land within the Russian capital on Wednesday or Thursday, based on Trump, following his journey to Israel and Gaza.
“They want to see (Witkoff),” Trump mentioned Sunday of the Russians. “They’ve requested that he meet so we’ll see what occurs.”
Trump, exasperated that Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t heeded his calls to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, per week in the past moved up his ultimatum to impose further sanctions on Russia in addition to introduce secondary tariffs concentrating on international locations that purchase Russian oil, together with China and India.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned Monday that officers are completely happy to fulfill with Trump’s envoy. “We’re all the time glad to see Mr. Witkoff in Moscow,” he mentioned. “We think about (talks with Witkoff) vital, substantive and really helpful.”
Trump just isn’t positive sanctions will work
Trump mentioned Sunday that Russia has confirmed to be “fairly good at avoiding sanctions.”
“They’re wily characters,” he mentioned of the Russians.
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The Kremlin has insisted that worldwide sanctions imposed since its February 2022 invasion of its neighbor have had a restricted influence.
Ukraine insists the sanctions are taking their toll on Moscow’s warfare machine and needs Western allies to ramp them up. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday urged the US, Europe and different nations to impose stronger secondary sanctions on Moscow’s power, commerce and banking sectors.
Trump’s feedback appeared to sign he doesn’t have a lot hope that sanctions will pressure Putin’s hand.
The secondary sanctions additionally complicate Washington’s relations with China and India, who stand accused of serving to finance Russia’s warfare effort by shopping for its oil.
Since returning to workplace in January, Trump has discovered that stopping the warfare is tougher than he maybe imagined.
Senior American officers have warned that the U.S. might stroll away from the battle if peace efforts make no progress.
Putin reveals no indicators of creating concessions
The diplomatic ambiance has develop into extra heated as Trump’s deadline approaches.
Putin introduced final Friday that Russia’s new hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, has entered service.
The Russian chief has hailed its capabilities, saying its a number of warheads that plunge to a goal at speeds of as much as Mach 10 can’t be intercepted. He claimed that they’re so highly effective that using a number of of them in a single standard strike could possibly be as devastating as a nuclear assault.
Individually, one in all Putin’s high lieutenants warned that the Ukraine warfare might nudge Russia and the U.S. into armed battle.
Trump responded to what he referred to as the “extremely provocative statements” by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev by ordering the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines.
Putin has repeated the identical message all through the warfare: He’ll solely settle for a settlement on his phrases and can hold combating till they’re met.
The warfare is killing hundreds of troops and civilians
Russia’s relentless pounding of city areas behind the entrance line have killed greater than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, based on the United Nations. It has pushed on with that tactic regardless of Trump’s public requires it to cease over the previous three months.
On the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) entrance line, Russia’s larger military has made sluggish and expensive progress. It’s finishing up a sustained operation to take the jap metropolis of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub whose fall might open the way in which for a deeper drive into Ukraine.
Ukraine has developed expertise that has allowed it to launch long-range drone assaults deep inside Russia. In its newest strike it hit an oil depot close to Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, beginning a significant hearth.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
