Ukraine: US envoy Witkoff in Moscow for truce talks

Europe is in a position to compensate if the US permanently ends its financial military aid for Ukraine, an analysis released by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) in Germany showed on Thursday.  

“Our data shows that Europe would be able to compensate for much of the US aid — but only if policymakers act decisively,” Christoph Trebesch, research director at IfW Kiel, said.

The only exception would be in the field of military intelligence, where Europe would have to rapidly build up capabilities if it wanted to match those of the US, the analysis said. 

It said European countries would have to increase their current spending on bilateral aid to Ukraine from the current €44 billion ($48 billion) annually to €82 billion to make up the deficit. Germany would need to raise its spending from €6 billion to at least €9 billion.

The IfW Kiel said Europe could purchase military systems and ammunition comparable to that provided by the US by turning to the international market, among other things.

The institute also suggested that European countries could order for weapons directly from Ukraine. This particularly applied to drones, it said, as Ukraine had “built up an extremely innovative and productive industry” in this field.
 

Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy who is to discuss the ceasefire proposal with Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday, could also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, US and Russian sources have said.

Witkoff’s arrival, first reported by Russian media, has since been confirmed by a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

The official also said the envoy was expected to meet with Putin.

A Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov, said a meeting with the Russian president could not be “ruled out.”

Ushakov said the ceasefire proposal did not consider Russian “interests” and might only serve to give Ukrainian forces some respite from fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that the lack of any concrete response to the ceasefire proposal from Moscow indicated a desire on the Kremlin’s part to keep going with its invasion of Ukraine.

“Regrettably, for more than a day already, the world has yet to hear a meaningful response from Russia to the proposals made. This once again demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war and postpone peace for as long as possible,” he said in a statement on social media.

“We hope that US pressure will be sufficient to compel Russia to end the war,” he added.

Zelenskyy’s remarks come as a US negotiating team has reportedly arrived in Moscow to discuss the ceasefire proposal, which was agreed earlier this week by the US and Ukraine, with Russian officials.
 

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of executing five more captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on social media that Russian forces “continue to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war,” without specifying where the alleged killings took place.

“Another video of the alleged execution of unarmed Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russians is circulating on social media,” he wrote.

The UN last month sounded the alarm over what it called an “alarming rise” in executions of captured Ukrainian troops, saying it had recorded dozens of such killings in recent months.

A top Kremlin aide has seemed to cast further doubt on the acceptablity of the ceasefire proposal to Moscow by saying such a truce would be “nothing other than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military.”

In comments made in a TV interview, Yuri Ushakov said he had stated Russia’s view on the proposal at a meeting with US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday.   

“It seems to me that no one needs any steps that (merely) imitate peaceful actions in this situation,” he said.

Ushakov said any peace settlement must properly consider Russia’s “interests.”

“That is what we are striving for. A peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country,” he said, adding that President Vladimir Putin would later “probably make more specific and substantive assessments.”

The remarks come as a US negotiating team is to hold talks with Russian officials in Moscow on the ceasefire proposal agreed between Washington and Kyiv earlier this week.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that if other countries sent peacekeepers to Ukraine, they would be taking part in a “direct armed conflict” with Moscow,

“It is absolutely unacceptable to us that army units of other states are stationed in Ukraine under any flag,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “All this would mean the involvement of these countries in a direct armed conflict with our country.”

She said Russia would respond to such moves with “all available means.”

Ukraine has asked its European allies to send military “contingents” to its territory if peace is established to protect the country against future attacks from Russia.
Zakharova also criticized plans by European countries to boost their defense spending. 

She said a proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to put together a package of €800 billion ($869 billion) for European defense amounted to the “the incitement of war on the European continent.”

Zakahrova also accused Europe of spreading false narratives that Russia was a danger to the continent’s security.

“This is a deliberately invented story based on Russophobia, which is promoted by inadequate Brussels officials,” she said.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that its troops would soon complete an operation to drive Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region of western Russia, seven months after Kyiv’s troops staged a daring incursionthere and seized large swathes of territory.

The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that its forces had retaken the Kursk town of Sudzha, which, if confirmed, would be a significant gain for Moscow.

The announcements come a day after President Vladimir Putin visited the region on Wednesday and ordered his commanders to conclude the operation as soon as possible.

Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region in August has been an embarrassment to the Kremlin and brought about the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War Two.

Russia has ended up deploying North Korean troops alongside its own as it tries to dislodge the Ukrainian presence.

Ukraine accepted a proposal put forward by Washington for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, but little is known about what it contains or whether Russia, which is staging a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, will be ready to agree to it without conditions.

The Kremlin has previously said it is not prepared for peace unless Ukraine officially drops its intention to join NATO and withdraws its troops completely from four Ukrainian regions currently controlled mostly by Russia and which Moscow claims as its own.

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US wants Moscow to agree without making extra demands.

“That’s what we want to know — if they’re prepared to do it unconditionally,” Rubio said on a plane as he headed to a G7 meeting in Canada.

“If the response is, ‘yes,’ then we know we’ve made real progress, and there’s a real chance of peace. If their response is ‘no,’ it would be highly unfortunate, and it’ll make their intentions clear,” he added.

 “It’s up to Russia now,” US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “And if we can get Russia to stop, then we have a full ceasefire. And I think it’ll never go back to war.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin might comment on the ceasefire proposal today.
 

US President Donald Trump‘s special envoy, Steve Witkoff,  will be in Moscow to discuss a 30-day ceasefire proposal agreed by the US and Ukraine at talks in Saudi Arabia earlier in the week.

This comes as the Kremlin says Russian troops are close to concluding an operation to push Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s western Kursk region.

Ukrainian forces carried out an incursion into the Kursk region in August, capturing large swathes of territory there.

Meanwhile, Russia has once more bombarded several Ukrainian cities overnight.