A top European diplomat has claimed Vladimir Putin got ‘everything he wanted’ as hopes faded last night of a peace deal.
The Russian President appears not to have made any concessions despite talks with President Trump and pressure from the UK and other Western allies.
President Putin has even been seen laughing in recent media appearances and appears determined to continue the three-year occupation of Ukraine.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s senior foreign affairs official, was among Western leaders who joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Monday.
The mood was buoyant afterwards following President Trump’s claim President Putin had agreed to the US providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
But since then Russian has denied the claim and reasserted that Ukraine must withdraw from the country’s eastern provinces.
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Last night, Ms Kallas said Putin ‘got such a welcoming’ in Alaska, ‘he wanted sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved.
‘Putin got everything he wanted. He is just laughing, not stopping the killing but increasing the killing. We are forgetting that Russia has not made a single concession.’
The suggestion Russia was backing US security guarantees for Ukraine came from President Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff. He was either misled by the Russians or misunderstood their position.
Last night, Finnish President backed Ms Kallas’ comments saying Putin was ‘rarely to be trusted’ and cast doubt over reports the Russian President will meet his Ukrainian counterpart for peace talks.
While French President Emmanual Macron described Putin as a ‘predator’ and ‘an ogre at our doorstep’.
President Trump has set President Putin another two-week deadline to agree to peace talks, after which the US ‘may have to take a different tack’.
President Trump has also reversed his position on a ceasefire, moving from backing what Ukraine and its allies want, which is an immediate ceasefire, to the Russian position, which is against such a move.
There was disappointment across European capitals last night as officials accepted that, despite the fanfare, the high profile scenes in the White House on Monday have amounted to nothing.
Officials in London are convinced Russia has no intentions of ending the war. Confidence has also evaporated that President Trump will put President Putin under sustained pressure.
Meanwhile, Russia has maintained its bombardment of Ukrainian cities, striking civilian targets. President Zelensky accused the Kremlin of behaving as if there were no peace efforts.
It also emerged last night that US Director of National Intelligence. Tulsi Gubbard, ordered US agencies to limit their distribution to allies such as the UK.
The edict was apparently ordered by Gubbard over fears intelligence would be shared with Ukraine.
Gubbard has previously come under fire over his stance on the conflict and remarks suggesting she sympathises with Russia.
Her directive of July 20th stated all information regarding the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations should be withheld from allied intelligence partners.
The ban drove a wedge between Western partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, including the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Following Gubbard’s memorandum, US intelligence on the peace talks was classified as ‘NOFORN’, meaning no foreign dissemination.
