“We were joking!” seems to be the most appropriate phrase to describe the negotiations for a truce in Ukraine called by US President Donald Trump. The main results of the meetings in Jeddah are words and the removal from the negotiations to resolve the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg.
The thirty-day truce, proclaimed by Ukraine and the United States, seems like a warm blanket for Trump’s voters who will be able to say: he tried. Since March 12, Kiev has again had access to satellite data, planes full of weapons from the United States have flown to Poland. Despite the evidence of a stalemate on peace and some progress on the minerals agreement, Trump’s national security advisor, Tim Waltz, on the negotiations with Ukraine: “For the moment, the Ukrainian and American delegations have taken a break”.
“The ball is now in Russia’s court for peace in Ukraine,” said the talkative Secretary of State Marco Rubio; “We will talk to the Russians in the coming days,” he noted. According to the Americans, a meeting is planned today in Moscow, although Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that so far no one from the United States has called Putin. In any case, Volodymyr Zelensky has access to the White House again, according to Trump himself.
The US and Ukrainian delegations did not discuss the issue of territorial concessions in the negotiations of March 11, which are a prerequisite for Russia to start talking about peace. In addition, “No steps have been taken yet to lift sanctions against Russia,” Rubio said. According to the US Secretary of State on maintaining a possible ceasefire in Ukraine: “military operations are easy to monitor, even using satellites”, a rather bizarre statement given that satellites are not cameras that are on 24 hours a day but are more observation points where images of areas are reconstructed at different times of the day.
The parties also do not agree on what a truce means: the United States said that the first round of negotiations in Saudi Arabia was dedicated to Ukraine’s proposal to establish a regime of silence at sea and in the air. While Zelensky said that silence must also be on land. Regarding the elections, Zelensky said yes, but after the end of the war.
The European Commission does not agree with the assessment of the EU’s policy towards Ukraine as being in favor of war and has assured that it is aimed at achieving peace. The French responded: “Europe must reject any form of demilitarization of Ukraine” – source French Defense Minister. “The first duty of the armies of the European continent is to develop a doctrine that should become the basis of the Ukrainian army for the next five to ten years,” said Sebastian Lecornu. Macron called for a “plan to define security guarantees” in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine and to do so at an accelerated pace, taking into account the acceleration of peace negotiations.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski: “I can confirm that US weapons supplies to Ukrainian territory have resumed” From Ukraine it is learned that a Ukrainian An-26 flew from airfields in western Ukraine to Warsaw.
The head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak: “Never before has the ceasefire seemed so close”. The presidents of both countries – remotely – agreed to conclude a comprehensive agreement on the development of Ukraine’s critical mineral resources as soon as possible, source Office of the President of Ukraine.
“Ukraine is ready to ceasefire for 30 days. If Russia wants to end the war, it must do the same. The war will not be frozen, because in the future we expect the end of the war in principle,” said the adviser to the head of the presidential office. However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga added: “We are in favor of a just and comprehensive peace, which is the key to security in Europe. We do not need a situation of simple absence of war, we do not need Minsk-3 or Yalta-2”, Sibiga said. And then Zelensky concluded: “Ukraine will not recognize the “occupied territories” as Russian,”.
On March 12, it was reported that the head of the operational command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “North”, Major General Dmitry Krasilnikov, was dismissed. He led this group for exactly two years, from March 12, 2023 and was engaged on the Kursk front.
Russian reactions to Washington and Kiev statement were the following, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said: “Any agreement to resolve the Ukrainian crisis must be made on Russian, not American, terms.”
And again Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov: “Ukraine would have retained the 1991 borders, but without Crimea and part of Donbass, if Kiev had cooperated and implemented its own initiatives.” “If they cooperated and implemented their own initiative, they would still have the 1991 borders without Crimea, without part of Donbass. Every time they cheat, they lose,” Lavrov continued in an interview with American bloggers Andrew Napolitano, Larry Johnson and Mario Naufal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a statement to Bloomberg: “Russia is open to peaceful efforts, to a peaceful solution around Ukraine, and in fact we prefer to achieve our goals by peaceful and diplomatic means,” he said. “If today and tomorrow it turns out that Ukraine is ready for negotiations, it would be a completely different story.” “The United States has not yet requested a new telephone conversation between Putin and Trump.” Peskov urged “not to exaggerate,” speaking of the Russian Federation’s reaction to the proposed 30-day truce.
What has happened is the resumption of talks between the secret services of Moscow and Washington: Naryshkin had a telephone conversation with the head of the CIA, SVR source. The aim is to re-establish contacts for global security.
And now a look at the front line updated at 17:00 on March 12.
The Russian army has taken control of the Kursk Cossack settlements of Loknya, 1st Knyazhy, 2nd Knyazhy, Zamosc and Mirny source Russian Ministry of Defense. There have been reports of a mass escape of the Ukrainian garrison of Sudzha towards the border. According to Ukrainian sources, the area of territory controlled by the Ukrainian army in the Russian region of Kursk has dropped to less than 200 square kilometers. On the afternoon of March 12, local social media sources claimed: “Ukrainian troops have completely abandoned Sudzha”.
The presence of a pair of American B-52H strategic bombers patrolling the waters of the Baltic Sea has been recorded. Yesterday afternoon, bombings on Odessa. Attacks on infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk have been confirmed, explosions were heard in Kiev, Pavlohrad, Kramatorsk, on Zmeiny Island, in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Sumy and Khmelnytsky regions.
Russian air defense systems repelled a night attack on the Bryansk region.
In the Seversky direction, the Russians are trying to advance west of Bilohorivka. The Ukrainians are putting up resistance.
Information continues to come from Toretsk about the deployment of units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the depths of the urban development.
In the Pokrovsk direction, counteractions continue in the settlements of Shevchenko, Peschane, Kotlyne and Uspenivka. On the right flank, east of Pokrovsk, Russian forces are attacking in the area of the Tarasivka settlement.
On the Zaporizhia front, Russian armed forces raised the flag in the long-established settlement P’yatykhatky. The village, located on a plain, has been destroyed since the summer of 2023, there are no basements, it is possible that there is no consolidation in the village itself.
Graziella Giangiulio
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