KYIV: Kyiv will propose an aerial and naval ceasefire with Russia during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has floated the proposal as a way to initiate talks to halt more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“We do have a proposal for a ceasefire in the sky and ceasefire at sea because these are the ceasefire options that are easy to install and to monitor and it’s possible to start with them,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Zelensky, whose officials are meeting the US side less than two weeks after his disastrous White House appearance with President Donald Trump, said Russia was the “only reason” the war was carrying on.
Trump has renewed communications with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and criticised Zelensky, raising fears in Kyiv and among European allies that the US leader may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement favouring Russia.
Zelenskyy, ahead of US talks, says Ukraine wants peace
He has also paused US military aid to Ukraine and halted US intelligence-sharing with Kyiv.
Russia could gain leverage on the battlefield if the intelligence pause is protracted, the Ukrainian official told AFP.
“The main thing is how long it will last. If it lasts a long time, it will give the Russians a significant advantage,” the source said.
They also said it was possible that the pause on intelligence-sharing had hindered Ukraine’s ability to fight off a counter-offensive by Moscow’s army in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Ukraine hoped that Russian territory it controls in the Kursk region would give it leverage during any talks with Moscow.
But it has been losing ground there rapidly over recent days to Russian assaults.
The United States limited Ukraine’s access to US intelligence that allowed strikes specifically on Russian territory, the source said.
“So there may be a connection” between the halt in intelligence-sharing and Russian advances, the source added to AFP.
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