Hopes of an end to the war in Ukraine suffered a double blow last night as the US reduced its peace force role and Russia set out demands for a truce.
Firstly it emerged UK and European officials visiting the US capital have been told they must provide all the security in Ukraine if a settlement is reached.
Hours later, Vladimir Putin’s mouthpieces in Moscow confirmed none of the Kremlin’s peace demands have changed, despite recent high profile talks.
Together these developments signalled that a settlement to the three-year conflict, which has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, is further off.
Hopes had been raised following Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and after Western leaders went with Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Monday.
Military planners, including from the UK, have now been warned the United States will only play a ‘minimal’ role in securing Ukraine after a peace deal.
British officials sat down with US defence under secretary Elbridge Colby.
He told UK, French, German and Finnish representatives that they will have to provide security arrangements for Ukraine without the US, according to the Politco website.
A Nato diplomat told Politco: ‘There’s the dawning reality that this will be Europe making this happen on the ground.’
Colby’s meeting came as Russia denied reports it has agreed to the US providing security guarantees for Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Kremlin repeated its demands that Ukraine gives up the entirety of the Donbass region as part of any deal.
Russian sources also insisted Ukraine renounces ambitions to join Nato and no Western troops should enter the country.
These demands were set out in June 2024 and rejected by Kyiv.
Yesterday, President Zelensky reaffirmed his refusal of Russia’s offer, saying: ‘If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that.’
Russia fired 574 drones and 40 missiles at Ukraine in the early hours of yesterday, according to Ukrainian officials. One person died in the western city of Lviv.
