Ukraine ready to discuss aerial ceasefire
In an interview with the Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, Podoliak gave his take on the upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, set for August 15 in Alaska, which is expected to revolve around the Ukraine conflict.
One US scenario for settling the conflict envisaged a comprehensive ceasefire 'which would also take into account the impact of air strikes, including missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian territory,' Podoliak noted.
'Ukraine is ready to discuss it, is ready to consider this scenario, and sees it as the initial stage for reaching realistic negotiating positions,' he said.
He also stressed that it is impossible to settle the conflict without a trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Putin.
Any talks with Zelensky should be preceded by significant diplomatic progress, Moscow has maintained, while voicing concern about his right to sign any binding agreements, given that his presidential term expired last year.
Russia has, on several occasions in the conflict, floated options for a limited ceasefire. One of the most significant initiatives stemmed from a Putin-Trump call in mid-March when Moscow agreed to Washington's proposal for a mutual moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days.
While Ukraine generally signed on the initiative, Moscow accused it of violating the agreement on a daily basis. Despite this, the Kremlin said at the time it had honored the deal as a gesture of goodwill toward the US.
The agreement expired in mid-April, after which Russia relaunched drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's military-related targets, saying they are retaliation for Kiev's strikes deep into the country which often target civilians and critical infrastructure.
Moscow has also insisted its attacks are never aimed at civilians.
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