WASHINGTON/KYIV (Reuters) – The United States is privately encouraging Ukraine to sign an opening agreement to negotiate with Russia, the Washington Post reported, as the State Department said Moscow is escalating the war and is not serious about peace talks.
The newspaper cited anonymous resources saying the U. S. officials’ request was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but a calculated attempt to ensure that Kyiv maintains the position of other nations.
U. S. and Ukrainian officials said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s ban on talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised concerns in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the war’s effects on food and fuel prices are being felt most acutely. said the Courier.
“Ukraine’s fatigue is a problem for some of our partners,” an anonymous U. S. official said.
Zelenskiy signed a decree on October 4 officially signaling the possibility of any talks between Ukraine and Putin as “impossible,” leaving the door open for talks with Russia.
The White House National Security Council had no comment on the accuracy of the report.
A State Department spokesman responded: “We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Movements speak louder than words. If Russia is willing to negotiate, avoid its bombs and missiles and withdraw its forces from Ukraine. “
“The Kremlin continues to escalate this war. The Kremlin has demonstrated its reluctance to have serious interaction in negotiations even before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The spokesman also referred to Zelenskiy’s statements on Friday, in which he said: “We are in a position for peace, for a just and just peace, the formula of which we have continuously expressed. “
In his late-night dealings with the other Ukrainians on Friday, Zelenskiy added: “The world knows our position. It is respect for the Charter of the United Nations, respect for our territorial integrity, respect for our other peoples.
U. S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday on a stopover in Kyiv that Washington’s aid to Ukraine will remain “unwavering and unwavering” after Tuesday’s midterm parliamentary elections.
The United States announced another $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine, adding the renewal of the Czech Republic’s T-72 tanks and missiles for HAWK air defenses that can only be used in opposition to Russian drones and cruise missiles.
The new aid brought the amount of U. S. military aid sent to Kyiv to more than $18. 2 billion since the invasion.
STRUGGLE
In the latest sign of Russia’s withdrawal from one of Ukraine’s most contested areas, Putin on Friday publicly approved the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
This gave the impression of being the first time Putin personally approved the evacuations, Moscow had transported other people out of a domain that controls Kherson on the western bank of the Dnieper.
Last week, Russia said the evacuation zone would also include a 15-kilometer (10-mile) buffer zone on the east bank.
Kyiv says the measures included forced deportations of civilians, a crime Russia denies.
Putin’s comments came as Russia is possibly preparing to abandon its military position on the western bank of the Dnipro, adding the town of Kherson.
The regional capital is the main city Russia has captured intact since its invasion in February. His loss to Russian forces would be one of the heaviest blows of the war.
The images circulated in which the main administrative construction in the city of Kherson appeared with the Russian flag no longer flying over it. Kiev has been cautious, saying such symptoms may just be a Russian hoax to lure Ukrainian troops into a trap.
The fiercest fighting last week took place around Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region, about three hundred miles (500 km) northeast of Kherson, Zelenskiy said Friday night.
(Report through Reuters offices; Written through Michael Perry; Editing by William Mallard)
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