As senior U.S. officials prepare for a Russian delegation meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, questions on how the Trump administration will push Moscow to extend a Preliminary ceasefire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed this week to temporarily halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, i.e. Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz will both head to Jeddah for negotiations, saying the next step will be to ensure a ceasefire on the Black Sea.
Military leaders meet in Ukraine’s “willed coalition” program
US National Security Advisor Mike Arabian, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Ukrainian Presidential Office Director Sabriia, Arabria held Scotland, Sabria holds 30 Representatives, (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Moscow had previously agreed to similar deals that Türkiye and the United Nations facilitated in 2022, known as the Black Sea Cereals Initiative, a plan that attempted to secure Ukraine’s agricultural product exports to control global prices, but Putin withdraws Agreement in 2023.
Security experts still don’t believe it Putin can trust this time.
But there is obviously another issue on the negotiation table in the Middle East – nuclear power in Ukraine.
As the president’s attention to the mineral agreement reached with Ukraine seems to have diminished, he shifted his interest to the new commercial company, the “ownership” of “electrical supply and nuclear power plants” in Kiev, the United States.
“U.S. ownership of these plants will be the best protection of the infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Rubio and Walz said in a joint statement issued on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Vodimir Zelensky.
Trump has a “very good” call with Zelenskyy after dealing with Putin
When Fox News Digital asks how Putin has It aroused his interest In the clarity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, there will be a response to Trump’s new ambitions, Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA Intelligence official and author of Putin’s Script, said she doesn’t think it’s good.
“Putin is almost certainly not supporting the idea and will try to undermine the deal,” Kovler said, who told NATO officials about Putin’s Ukrainian ambitions years before the 2022 invasion. “In addition, Zelenskyy is unlikely to sign such transactions.
Zelenskyy may agree to attribute control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the United States, which is currently under Russian control. The Russians will not voluntarily give up their control over Zaporizhzhia. If someone tries to take it over with force, they will fight for suffering. ”
Infographic created on August 12, 2024 in Ankara, Türkiye. (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)
It is unclear when Trump began to gain interest in Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, although this seems to be related to his previous assertions that Ukraine would be better protected if his workers and businesses operate within its borders.
The basis of this argument is debated because there is and still exists, and still exists US company operations During the Russian invasion, in Ukraine. The debate led to the Oval Office explosion between Trump and Zelensky last month.
Kovler said Putin could see the US takeover of four nuclear power plants in Kiev as a “backdoor way” to expand some security assurances to Ukraine, and a “smart way to control Ukraine’s nuclear energy, which the Russians think can be militarized.”
Russia’s next step is a Ukrainian ceasefire talk?
“This will be seen as a threat to Russia,” Kovler said.
When asked how U.S. ownership of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure affects negotiations, Dan Hoffman, former CIA’s Moscow station chief, told Fox News Digital that he did not believe it would have a big impact on really ensuring peace.
“Show me the deal. We have no agreement yet. We have a ceasefire that has been broken on the energy infrastructure,” Hoffman noted. He noted that even after Putin agreed to stop attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure on Tuesday, a drone strike attacked the next morning, Railway power system In the Dnipropetrovsk area, civilians have lost power.
President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the first day of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019. (Kremlin Press Office/Handout/anadolu agent/Getty image)
“This is just another point of discussion. There are a lot of other issues that are more important. What Putin might do for his negotiation strategy is to say, ‘Oh, yes, what I let you do is the United States of America, but I hope that’s rewarding.”’Always.” Hoffman added in his negotiations with Russia that his negotiations with Russia reflected.
“He wants Ukraine. He wants Overthrow the government. That’s his goal,” Hoffman added. “Whatever deal he reaches in the short term, what he really wants to do is destroy Ukraine’s ability to stop Russia in the future and give Russia the greatest advantage.
“Now, he can get everything he can’t get on the battlefield through negotiation.”
While many issues will be discussed, the former head of the CIA Moscow Radio said the real key to completing any ceasefire will be a real signal from Putin, who actually hopes the war is over.
“One big question that John Ratcliffe has to answer is explaining to me why Putin wants a ceasefire. I don’t think he won’t.” “Zero signs he wants one.
Ukrainian soldiers on June 15, 2022, on the front line of the Ukrainian region in eastern Ukraine, there was a French self-selling 155mm/52 caliber gun Caesar to Russia’s post. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
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“If he wants to stop the war, stop killing his own people, stop spilling so much blood and treasure, he will stop it,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman eventually said that when studying the conclusions of most major wars, history shows that Ukraine’s war can only truly end on the battlefield.
“One side loses, the other side wins, or neither side has the means to fight,” Hoffman said. “This is the end of the war.”
