ALBAWABA -According to a story from Britain, the Kremlin has essentially taken down President Trump's plan to end the war in Ukraine. The i Paper says that Moscow has taken steps to stop any possible progress just one week after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska. This shows that Trump's suggested framework is no longer a workable option.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said again that Putin is "ready" to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, he also added new problems that make it very unlikely that the two will be able to meet.
During a news conference in Moscow with the Indian Foreign Minister, Lavrov said that Putin would only meet Zelensky if all "top-level issues" were resolved first. These included making sure that Zelensky had the right to represent Kyiv in negotiations.
Lavrov said that any future deals with Ukraine would have to include the "legal status of Kyiv's leadership." This suggests that Zelensky's term is over since the elections were pushed back because of Russia's invasion.
Analysts see Lavrov's comments as a sign that Putin will not agree to direct talks until Zelensky wins a new election or a new leader takes office.
Moscow Turns Down NATO Peacekeepers
In a related event, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that NATO or British troops would not be involved in any peacekeeping missions in Ukraine after the war.
Medvedev said on Wednesday, "Russia will not accept any NATO troops in Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers." He also said that Russia does not need security promises from other countries.
Lavrov stressed that the UN Security Council, which Russia can block, should be the only body that decides who will be in any future peacekeeping missions.
Trump's comments about Ukraine cause a lot of disagreement.
Trump tweeted a statement on Thursday saying that Ukraine can't win the war without attacking Russian soil: "It is next to impossible to win a war without attacking the country that is invading."
He said that Ukraine is like a "great sports team with a strong defense but no offense," which suggests that Kyiv's current plan can't work.
Trump seemed to want Ukraine to attack Russia directly, while at the same time attacking former President Joe Biden for limiting Kyiv's military options: It's not fair that Joe Biden won't let Ukraine fight back; it can only protect itself.
The report does say, though, that Trump has not given Ukraine permission to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to target Moscow or St. Petersburg, and he has not promised to back Kyiv's request to deploy advanced Patriot missile systems, which Zelensky says are essential to Ukraine's defense.
Analysts think that Moscow sees Trump's recent comments as an attempt to start a fight with Russia instead of trying to make peace. The report says that Trump's plan to end the war in Ukraine is pretty much dead since the Kremlin is making the rules more complicated and refusing NATO's help.
