US seeks to secure Russia-Ukraine peace agreement by Easter
- 24 March, 07:11
The United States seeks to secure a peace agreement to end the hostilities in Ukraine by the Easter holiday, Bloomberg reported on Sunday citing unnamed sources.
The source said the White House acknowledged that the timeline for ending three years of war by 20 April was ambitions given the extremely large gap between Ukraine and Russia in negotiations.
“Russia has set out maximalist demands for any agreement, including an end to arms supplies for Ukraine, a position that Kyiv and its allies have rejected,” the source told Bloomberg. Despite temporarily halting weapons delivery and reconnaissance exchange with Ukraine in March, the White House hasn’t agreed to any limits so far, the source said.
Since assuming office in January, US President Donald Trump has pushed for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in order to deliver his pre-election campaign to end the war as quickly as possible. Russia rejected Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce along the frontline, with Kremlin stating that the cessation of hostilities would help Kyiv gain time.
So far, Trump has only been able to achieve a 30-day halt in strikes on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine after having phone calls with both countries’ leaders last week. “I believe we’re going to pretty soon have a full ceasefire,” Trump told reporters on March 21, three days after the ceasefire agreement was violated as Ukraine and Russia exchanged drone strikes. Three more people were killed and dozens injured in Russian strikes on Ukraine on March 23. Moreover, Trump administration has managed to hold separate meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in February and March.
