Moscow (AFP) – The Kremlin warned Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s pledge of more weapons for Kyiv and threat of sanctions targeting Russian trading partners could embolden Ukraine and further delay already stalled peace efforts. Trump a day earlier gave Russia 50 days to strike a peace deal with Ukraine, voicing fresh frustration with Moscow as he laid out an arrangement with NATO to supply Kyiv with new military aid sponsored by the alliance’s members.
The Republican forced Moscow and Kyiv to open peace talks to end the conflict, now in its fourth year, but Russia has rejected calls for a ceasefire and launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine in recent months. Moscow said it needed more time to respond fully to Trump’s statement, but hinted it did not appear conducive to successful negotiations. “It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in NATO countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “President Trump’s statement is very serious. We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington,” he told reporters in Moscow’s first reaction to the comments.
Trump warned that if no deal was concluded, he would slap severe tariffs on Russia’s remaining trade partners in a bid to impede Moscow’s ability to finance its military offensive. Pumped up by huge state spending on soldiers and weapons, as well as by redirecting vital energy exports to the likes of China and India, Russia’s economy has so far defied Western hopes sanctions would push it into a deep recession.
Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine, held in Turkey in recent months, have made no progress towards ending the fighting and yielded only large-scale prisoner exchanges. Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its offensive, with millions forced to flee their homes in eastern and southern Ukraine, which has been decimated by aerial attacks and ground assaults. Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and his negotiators have demanded Ukraine shun all Western military support and pull out of four regions in its east and south that Moscow claims to have annexed. Kyiv and the West have rejected them as a call for Ukraine’s de-facto capitulation.
Peskov said Russia was open to another round of talks and was “waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side on the timing.” Kyiv has called it “pointless” to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation. Denmark and the Netherlands on Tuesday said they were looking to participate in Trump’s plan for Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine. Under the scheme, some of NATO’s European members would pay Washington for the weapons, including vital Patriot air defence systems, which would then be shipped to Ukraine.
The United States has been Kyiv’s most important military backer since Russia launched its offensive in 2022, but Trump’s erratic policy on whether to support Ukraine and his attempts to engage Putin have spooked Europe and Kyiv.
In Moscow, residents dismissed Trump’s statement as little more than politics. “It’s a game of chess,” Svetlana, an aviation engineer, said. “There will still be negotiations…(Trump) gave 50 days, and then there will be more…We are waiting for the next move of our president,” the 47-year-old said.
Russia has pummelled Ukrainian cities with regular aerial attacks in recent weeks as its troops advance slowly across the battlefield in the east and south. Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the east were hopeful but cautious following Trump’s promise of air defences and weapons. “I don’t believe him. There have been too many promises that haven’t been kept,” said one soldier with the call-sign “Shah.” Others were worried it might be too little too late. “Of course it’s good, but at the same time, time has been lost. Those Patriots could have been sent sooner and could have helped a lot,” another fighter called “Master” told AFP. “If there is even the slightest chance to improve the situation for us and worsen it for them, then that’s already positive,” Ruslan, a 29-year-old soldier, said.
© 2024 AFP
