Moscow has brushed aside President Trump’s new proposal to halt the war in Ukraine by freezing both sides at their current positions, insisting that “Russia’s stance doesn’t change.”
Responding to Trump’s weekend call for an immediate end to the fighting — one that would effectively leave each side in control of the land it presently holds — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mocked the idea that Kyiv would be allowed to retain portions of the Donbas region.
“This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US. The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: The consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change,” Peskov told local outlets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long maintained that Ukraine must fully relinquish the Donbas before Moscow will consider any cease-fire arrangement.
At present, Russian forces occupy most of the Donbas region — holding all of Luhansk Oblast and roughly three-quarters of Donetsk Oblast, according to open-source tracking and military analysts.
Still, Moscow’s army has been unable to seize Donetsk’s heavily fortified “fortress belt,” which has successfully pushed back Russian offensives for over three years.
Kyiv has steadfastly refused to entertain any proposal that involves surrendering the region, warning that doing so would allow Moscow to regroup and more easily overrun the rest of the country once the Donetsk defenses are dismantled.
According to the Washington Post, Putin told Trump in a recent phone call — which took place before Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — that Russia expects Kyiv to yield Donetsk as part of any truce.
Following that conversation, Trump sat down with Zelensky for a three-hour discussion in which he outlined his plan to end hostilities and “stop where they are.”
“So what I say is they should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home, stop killing people and be done,” Trump told reporters Sunday.
Trump rejected claims that the session with Zelensky turned heated or that he pressured the Ukrainian leader to cede the entire Donbas or face destruction at the hands of Russia.
Despite dismissing Trump’s cease-fire suggestion, Peskov noted that the Kremlin remains open to a face-to-face between Trump and Putin to continue negotiations.
The two leaders are reportedly planning to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks, though it is unclear whether Zelensky will take part.
Trump and Putin last conferred during a summit in Alaska earlier this summer.
{Matzav.com}
That’s a pretty bold and dumb strategy.
The suggestion to freeze the front lines was in response to a request for Tomahawk missiles.
Blowing off the proposal to freeze the front lines is only likely to lead Mr. Trump to send Tomahawks for Ukraine to use against Russia.