US ‘will not be fooled’ by Putin over ceasefire in Ukraine

US envoy says Donald Trump doesn’t want ‘endless negotiations’ while Britain, France and Germany accused Russia of stalling.

At least four people were killed in a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv late on Thursday night. Picture: Yevhen Titov/AP

The United States warned yesterday that it will not be fooled by President Vladimir Putin into “endless negotiations” over a ceasefire in Ukraine as European governments slated the Russian leader for dragging his feet.

At the close of a two-day NATO meeting in Brussels, Marco Rubio, the American secretary of state, said on Friday that Washington would “know soon enough, in a matter of weeks not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not”.

He added: “If this is dragging things out, President Trump’s not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations.”

Rescuers helped an elderly resident to safety after the Russian drone attack in Kharkiv. Picture: Picture: Yevhen Titov/AP

Earlier in the day, Britain, France and Germany had accused Putin of stalling on a ceasefire deal in Ukraine and keeping up attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said at a NATO meeting in Brussels: “Our judgment is that Putin continues to obfuscate, continues to drag his feet. He could accept a ceasefire now, but he continues to bombard Ukraine, its civilian population, its energy supplies. We see, Vladimir Putin. We know what you’re doing.”

Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, said: “Over the past three weeks, Russia has been flip-flopping, continuing its strikes on energy infrastructure, continuing its war crimes. There will at some point be a need for military capacity or reassurance, whenever peace is reached – and this is the reason why our army chiefs will be in Kyiv today (Saturday) in order to advance this work.”

The head of Britain’s armed forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, arrived in Kyiv for talks with his French and Ukrainian counterparts over proposals for the deployment of peacekeeping troops.

Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, stepped off a train in Kyiv with Thierry Burkhard, the French chief of defence staff. They were due to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian military chiefs to discuss the potential for stationing European soldiers in Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement, local media reported. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, arrived in Kyiv on Friday with his French counterpart, General Thierry Burkhard. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

The United States put forward a proposal last month for a full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Kyiv accepted it but Russia turned it down. The two sides have since agreed in principle to a limited cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure, but have accused each other of violating those terms.

Fourteen people, including six children, were killed in a Russian ballistic missile strike on the central city of Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky’s home town, on Friday, according to Ukrainian officials. More than 50 people were injured.

Earlier, at least four people had been killed in drone strikes on the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

A ceasefire is seen as the first step towards substantive talks to end hostilities permanently.

Rubio said the US was “testing to see if the Russians are interested in peace”. He said: “Their actions – not their words, their actions - will determine whether they’re serious or not, and we intend to find that out sooner rather than later.”

Barrot said that Moscow owed an answer to the United States, which had “worked very hard to come up with a mediation effort and a ceasefire proposal”, adding: “It has to be yes. It has to be no. It has to be a quick answer.”

Some 35 people were injured in the attack on Kharkiv. Picture: Sergey Kozlov/EPA

Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, criticised Putin for “playing for time by raising ever new demands” and said he offered “nothing but empty promises” in negotiations.

Zelensky said on Thursday that a ceasefire was possible within weeks if the West leant on Russia to comply. “The issue now is putting pressure on the Russians to get there,” he said. “This applies especially to the hot phase of the war. A full ceasefire is the right step and one that Ukraine has agreed to and supports.”

Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy of Putin, held talks with members of Trump’s administration in Washington on Thursday. Afterwards, Dmitriev said there was a “positive dynamic” in relations between Russia and the US, although sticking points remained. “I think [with] the Trump administration, we are now in [a] realm of thinking about what is possible, what can really work, and how we can find a long-term solution,” he told CNN.

Trump said on Sunday that he was “very angry” and “pissed off” with Putin for criticising Zelensky, in a departure from Trump’s usually positive comments about the Russian leader. He also said he expected that he would speak to Putin this week.

Politico reported on Friday that the two could speak by telephone before the weekend, or immediately after it.

The Times