By Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, 1/27/25
The Kremlin said Monday that Russia is ready for contact between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump but hasn’t received any requests for such talks from the new administration.
“We haven’t received any signals from the Americans yet,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. “This is why we continue working according to schedule, maintaining readiness [for dialogue].”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov made similar comments, saying the only contacts between the US and Russia are being carried out at the embassy level. “As the Russian President has repeatedly said, we are open to dialogue and contacts, conversations and meetings,” Ryabkov said.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, but fighting continues to rage across the frontlines. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump has given his envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellog, 100 days to reach a deal.
Trump recently criticized Zelensky, saying that he “decided to fight” Russia instead of making a deal. The comments signaled that the Trump administration might be willing to put pressure on Zelensky to get him to negotiate with Russia, but it’s unclear what sort of deal Washington will be willing to offer Moscow.
Trump’s State Department has paused foreign aid for 90 days, with exemptions for Israel and Egypt, but the freeze does not appear to impact US weapons shipments to Ukraine that go through the Pentagon.
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Ukrainian Military Intel Chief Warns of Threat to Ukraine’s Existence if Negotiations With Russia Don’t Start
By Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, 1/27/25
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, has warned that if negotiations to end the war with Russia don’t begin by this summer, Ukraine’s “very existence” will be threatened.
According to a report from Ukrainska Pravda, Budanov issued the warning during a closed-door meeting of Ukraine’s parliament.
A source who attended the meeting told the media outlet that Budanov was asked how much time Ukraine has, and he replied, “If there are no serious negotiations by the summer, dangerous processes could unfold, threatening Ukraine’s very existence.”
Describing the response to Budanov’s comments, the source said, “Everyone exchanged uneasy glances and fell silent. It seems like everything depends on things going right.”
Budanov’s comments come as the new Trump administration has declared that its official policy is to seek the end of the war in Ukraine. But so far, there’s been no sign that negotiations have started.
In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been floating ideas for a potential peace deal that would be non-starters for talks with Moscow, including a proposal for 200,000 Western troops to be deployed to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire.
Budanov’s comments reinforce the fact that time is on Russia’s side, meaning Moscow is unlikely to agree to any deals that don’t include its core demands: Ukrainian neutrality and continued Russian control of the territories it has captured in Ukraine.