WASHINGTON/KYIV, Nov 6 – The United States is privately urging Ukraine to signal openness to talks with Russia, the Washington Post reported, as the State Department said Moscow was escalating the war and was serious about not engaging in peace. conversations.
US officials and White House realizes Zelensky’s recentness to negotiate with Russia is stretching the war unnecessarily.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the request by US officials was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but was a calculated attempt to ensure that Kyiv retains the support of other countries.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ban on talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised concerns in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America where the effects of the war on food and fuel prices are being felt most acutely, the Post reported.
“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” it quoted an unnamed US official as saying.
On October 4, Zelensky signed a decree formally declaring the prospect of any Ukrainian talks with Putin “impossible” but leaving the door open to talks with Russia.
The White House National Security Council did not immediately comment on the accuracy of the report.
A State Department spokesman responded: “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Actions speak louder than words. If Russia is ready to negotiate, it should stop its bombs and missiles and withdraw its forces from Ukraine.”
“The Kremlin continues to escalate this war. The Kremlin has demonstrated its unwillingness to seriously engage in negotiations even before launching its all-out invasion of Ukraine.”
The spokesman also took note of Zelensky’s statement on Friday, in which he said: “We are ready for peace, for a fair and just peace, the formula of which we have expressed many times.”
In his Friday night speech to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskiy added: “The world knows our position. This is respect for the UN Charter, respect for our territorial integrity, respect for our people.”
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday that Washington’s support for Ukraine would remain “unwavering and steadfast” after Tuesday’s midterm congressional elections.
The United States has announced $400 million in additional security aid to Ukraine, including refurbishing T-72 tanks from the Czech Republic and HAWK air defense missiles that could be used against Russian drones and cruise missiles.
The new aid brings the amount of US military aid sent to Kiev to more than $18.2 billion since the invasion.
FIGHTING
In the latest sign of Russia’s retreat in one of Ukraine’s most acutely threatened areas, Putin on Friday publicly supported the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
It appeared to be the first time Putin had personally supported the evacuations, although Moscow was transporting people from an area it controls in Kherson on the west bank of the Dnieper River.
Last week, Russia said the evacuation zone would also include a 15 km (10 mi) buffer zone on the east bank.
Kyiv says the measures included forced deportations of civilians, a war crime Russia denies.
Putin’s comments came amid signs that Russia may be preparing to abandon its military stronghold on the west bank of the Dnieper, including the city of Kherson.
The regional capital is the only major city Russia has captured intact since the February invasion. His loss to the Russian forces would be one of the worst blows of the war.
Pictures of the main administrative building in the city of Kherson where the Russian flag no longer flies have spread on the Internet. Kyiv is wary, saying such stamps could be a Russian hoax designed to lure Ukrainian soldiers into a trap.
The fiercest fighting in the past week took place around Bakhmut and Soledar, in the eastern Donetsk region about 500 km (300 miles) northeast of Kherson, Zelenskiy said late Friday.