British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said that Putin should “stop bluffing and bloodshed” and be ready to support a “just and lasting peace”, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha called on the Russian president to “stop wasting the world’s time”.
The ministers of foreign affairs of the NATO countries, who met in Brussels, said that they have less and less patience. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Putin “is not showing any signs of changing direction”, while Finnish Minister Elina Valtonen stressed that Russia had not made any concrete concessions so far and that a full ceasefire would be a key confidence-building measure.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the allies will continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine in order to maintain pressure on Moscow. Canada, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands have announced additional allocations of several hundred million dollars for the purchase of American weapons that will be donated to Ukraine.
On the other hand, Putin’s adviser Yuriy Ushakov said that the talks with the American envoys were “positive”, but admitted that a compromise on the status of the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions has not yet been reached. Ukraine rejects any renunciation of its territory. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that it is not true that Putin rejected the American peace plan, adding that the details are not being made public on purpose.
Meanwhile, the fighting continues. Russian drones hit the town of Ternivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two people and injuring three others. Ukraine said Russia shot down 111 drones overnight, while Moscow claims it shot down 102 Ukrainian drones. In the Tambov region of Russia, a fire broke out in an oil warehouse after falling debris from a crashed drone.
(Vijesti.ba)
