Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy – don't let Russia ‘deceive us in the details'
Despite the engagement, sanctions targeting Russian oil 'are still expected to be implemented on Friday', a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Separately, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said he did not want to exaggerate the progress made during Steve Witkoff's talks with Putin. Many 'impediments' remained, especially Russia's territorial claims, and there was no concrete proposal for a ceasefire. There have been unconfirmed reports that the Kremlin could propose a halt to long-range strikes by both sides.
Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week to discuss the war, White House officials have said, although senior administration officials warned that serious 'impediments' remain to achieving a ceasefire. Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday: 'There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon.' He gave no indication where the meeting with Putin might take place. After sitting down with Putin, Trump then wants a three-way meeting with the Russian ruler and Zelenskyy, the New York Times and CNN reported, citing people familiar with the plan. The US president has proclaimed that 'great progress was made' when Witkoff, a real estate dealer, met the Russian ruler at the Kremlin on Wednesday. Trump-Putin meetings about Ukraine have been raised as a possibility in the past but not eventuated.
Trump has promised to introduce secondary tariffs on countries that import Russian oil if no progress is made towards a peace deal by Friday. On Wednesday, he issued an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing India's continuing imports of Russian oil.
Russian artillery shelling killed three people and injured four on Wednesday in the south-eastern Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the regional governor said. Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said two men and a woman died. Nikopol is on the Ukrainian-held north side of the Dnipro River. The RBK-Ukraine media outlet said the strike hit a car belonging to the state emergency services and one of those killed was an emergency worker.
A US army soldier has been arrested for trying to provide classified information about America's M1A2 Abrams main battle tank to Russia, the justice department said. Taylor Adam Lee, 22, of El Paso, Texas, is accused of seeking to 'provide classified military information on US tank vulnerabilities to a person he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer in exchange for Russian citizenship', said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of FBI counterintelligence. Lee handed over an SD card containing documents and information to an individual he believed to be a Russian agent, it is alleged.
A majority of Ukrainian's still trust Zelenskyy but their number fell to 58% of the population after an abortive move to curb the power of anti-corruption watchdogs led to protests, according to polling. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said on Wednesday that its poll, which began a day after the shock vote on 22 July, found trust was down from an 18-month high of 74% in May and 67% in February-March. Zelenskyy on Wednesday said he had visited troops near the frontline in the Sumy region.
Ukraine on Wednesday appointed a new director of an economic crimes investigation unit. The prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, a renowned anti-graft detective, would head the economic security bureau. The director is chosen by a panel including international experts and then confirmed by the government. The government had for weeks held back his appointment, citing family ties to Russia. Svyrydenko said Tsyvinsky took a polygraph test as part of the appointment process. Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, welcomed the appointment as a 'crucial reform strongly encouraged by the EU'.
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There is 'close to zero chance' Putin will agree to a ceasefire due to Trump's threats of tariffs and sanctions on Russia, said Eugene Rumer, a former U.S. intelligence analyst for Russia who directs the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Russia and Eurasia Program. "Theoretically if you cut off Indian and Chinese purchases of oil that would be a very heavy blow to the Russian economy and to the war effort. But that isn't going to happen," he said, adding that the Chinese have signaled they will keep buying Russia's oil. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond. Secondary tariffs would hurt Russia, the world's second leading oil exporter. The West has pressured Russia since late 2022 with a price cap on its oil exports, intended to erode Russia's ability to fund the war. 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