Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from Donald Trump, sources close to the Kremlin have said.
The US president has threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions and impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy its oil, of which the biggest are China and India, unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Putin’s goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace agreement, a source told news agency Reuters.
The Russian leader does not want to anger Trump, and he realises that he may be spurning a chance to improve relations with Washington and the West, but his war goals take precedence, the sources said.
Moscow’s stated demands include a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions and acceptance by Kyiv of neutral status and limits on the size of its military – demands rejected by Ukraine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday in an attempt to convince Mr Putin to sign a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine.
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Russia carried out its largest attack on Lozova, a railway hub east of Ukraine, with dozens of drone strikes that left two people dead and wounded 13 others, including two children, Ukrainian officials said.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the attack involved 34 drones and damaged the train station and a nearby rail depot.
It temporarily knocked out power to 80% of the town of around 50,000 in the Kharkiv region, which is connected by rail to strategic cities in Ukraine’s east.
“Critical infrastructure, apartment buildings and private homes have been damaged … Lozova has endured the largest attack since the beginning of the war,” Serhiy Zelenskiy, head of the town council, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“For Lozova it was a very unusual situation. Of course there have been strikes before, but nothing as big as what we had this evening,” said local resident Oksana Samoilenko, 41.
Some residents with cars had left the town earlier in the morning following the strike, she said.
State railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said one of its employees was among the two people killed and four others wounded.
Credit: The Independent.com
