WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Trump says he can end war in 24 hours; Zelenskyy says Biden could in 5 minutes

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday dismissed claims by Donald Trump that he could end the war in 24 hours, saying the current GOP presidential front-runner failed to do so while president.

Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator on ABC’s “This Week," noted that Ukraine has been battling Russian proxies in the Donbas region since Russia seized Crimea in 2014. Trump served as president from 2016 to 2020.

"The sole desire to bring the war to an end is beautiful, but this desire should be based on some real-life experience," Zelenskyy said. "Donald Trump had already these 24 hours once in his time. We were at war, not a full-scale war. ... (Trump) had that time at his disposal, but he must have had some other priorities."

Trump has claimed to have a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but details on his plans to halt the war have been vague. Zelenskyy said that if Trump meant to end the war by forcing Ukraine to cede territory, "(President Joe) Biden could have brought it to an end even in five minutes, but we would not agree."

** Biden said he was "optimistic" Sweden would soon get the green light to join NATO. He said Sweden is making some adjustments to its laws at the behest of Turkey, the holdout against Swedish membership, and that a deal could include strengthening Turkey's air defenses.

** Russia claimed it shot down an Ukraine missile over Russia's Rostov region along the Ukraine border. Regional Gov. Vasily Golubev said no damage or injuries were reported.

** Biden says Putin's goal is to 'destroy NATO'

A primary goal of Putin's ambitious invasion of Ukraine was to destroy NATO, and keeping the alliance together is critical for the security of the U.S. and the West, Biden told CNN in an interview released Sunday. Biden and other NATO leaders will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, starting Tuesday. Talks will be centered around providing Ukraine military support and a possible path to membership in the alliance.

"I believe Putin has had an overwhelming objective from the time he launched 185,000 troops into Ukraine, and that was to break NATO," Biden said. "So, holding NATO together is really critical."

Biden said when he first met Putin two years ago in Geneva, the Russian leader sought a commitment from the U.S. to keep Ukraine out of NATO. Biden declined to make the pledge, citing the alliance's "open-door policy. We're not going to shut anybody out."

But Biden acknowledged there is little desire among current NATO members to "bring Ukraine into the NATO family now" because the defense commitment would mean that all alliance members, including the U.S., would be at war with Russia. He also stressed that it will take Ukraine some time to meet NATO qualifications.

"I have spoken with Zelenskyy at length about this, and one of the things I indicated is the United States would be ready to provide, while the process was going on ... security a la the security we provide for Israel," he said.

** Zelenskyy: Counteroffensive advancing; 'initiative is on our side'

The Ukraine counteroffensive is slowly gaining ground, but "every day means new losses of Ukrainians," Zelenskyy said in the ABC interview. The Ukrainian president noted that several months ago his military was forced to retreat from some areas of eastern Ukraine. Now some of that land is being taken back. He dismissed claims that some Western leaders were disappointed in the pace of the gains, saying all are well aware of the "total strength of Russians" and amount of equipment they have at their disposal. 

"Of course, we would all like to see the counteroffensive accomplished in a shorter period of time, but there's reality," Zelenskyy said, adding that "today the initiative is on our side."

** White House 'not involved' in secret Ukraine talks

The White House says it was aware of but did not encourage or sanction secret talks about Ukraine between a group of former senior U.S. officials and Russians close to Putin’s government.

Members of the Council on Foreign Relations met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in April to begin laying the groundwork for an end to the war, NBC reported last week. The National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said Sunday that the U.S. government “was not involved in any way” in the conversations.

“We weren’t passing messages through them,” Kirby said.

− Francesca Chambers

** Russian media portraying revolt in Putin's favor, British ministry says

Russia’s state-approved media, a critical tool as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative around the war, was unprepared and taken aback by the Wagner mutiny of late June, the British Defense Ministry said in its latest update, noting that TV news shows kept their usual schedule.

Since then the state media have denied security forces reacted passively to the threat and stepped up their portrayal of the quelled insurrection as a Putin victory, highlighting his attempts at unifying the country behind him and making uncommon public appearances, most likely to project strength, the ministry said.

In addition, “the state started to play down the significance of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mutiny, while tarnishing his character,’’ the assessment said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO powers in ‘frantic’ race to conceive Ukraine deal – Politico

Washington is reportedly rushing to complete an agreement with its most powerful NATO partners – the UK, Germany and France – on a set of security guarantees for Ukraine so the deal can be presented to the full bloc when the Western military alliance gathers for a summit this week in Vilnius.

The group’s power brokers have been holding “frantic, last-minute”negotiations to finalize their agreement on a security declaration for Kiev, Politico reported on Sunday, citing four unidentified officials familiar with the talks. The declaration would create an “umbrella” for all countries willing to provide ongoing military aid to Ukraine, even though details of the security commitments may vary from nation to nation.

The US, the UK, France and Germany have been discussing the issue with Ukrainian leaders for weeks and have “reached out” to other allies within NATO, the European Union and the G7, Politico said. The four governments aim to unveil their framework agreement at the summit in hopes that other members will join with them in the security pledges. The two-day event is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has pressed for NATO to accelerate his country’s bid to join the alliance, but multiple members of the bloc have said Kiev can’t be admitted at least until its conflict with Russia ends. German officials are reportedly reluctant to give Ukraine any guarantees on future membership, given concern that such a move could trigger a direct conflict with Russia.

In lieu of pledging NATO membership, Washington is willing to give Ukraine security assurances similar to those it provides Israel, US President Joe Biden told CNN in a recent interview.

Staffers for Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will try to “iron out last-minute details” at a meeting on Monday in London, Politico said. The allies may essentially promise to keep providing much of the aid that they have been giving Ukraine since Russia began its offensive against Kiev in February 2022.

“It is basically a guarantee toward Ukraine that we will – for a very long time to come – we will equip their armed forces, we will finance them, we will advise them, we will train them in order for them to have a deterrent force against any future aggression,” a senior NATO diplomat said. 

US lawmakers have squabbled in recent days over Ukraine’s NATO prospects. Multiple Republican members of the US House and Senate have argued that allowing Ukraine to join the alliance would make Americans less safe because it could trigger a catastrophic conflict with Russia.

** Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure damaged by Russia – minister

Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russian strikes, with some facilities knocked out of service for good, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Saturday.

Speaking on national TV, Galushchenko summed up the results of the Russian missile attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, saying that the Ukrainian authorities registered 271 hits between October 10, 2022 and March 9, 2023.

“In terms of losses, 50% of the entire power grid system, including generation assets and the transmission system, has been hit by Russian strikes,” he stated, as quoted by local media. “Unfortunately, some facilities have been completely destroyed and cannot be restored.”

The energy minister said the Ukrainian authorities have embarked on the largest repair campaign in the country’s history. “The scale of destruction is enormous, and we have the task of restoring as much as possible by the next heating season.” 

He noted that the World Bank had estimated the damage to the energy infrastructure at $11 billion, but added that this figure is even higher as it does not take into account attacks that occurred after the assessment was completed.

In late May, Galushchenko announced an increase in energy tariffs. He explained at the time that Kiev was unable to maintain the discount rates, citing Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure and the fact that Ukraine no longer controls the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest facility of its kind in Europe, as well as the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which was destroyed last month.

Russia significantly stepped up missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities after a deadly blast on the Crimean Bridge last October, which Moscow says was orchestrated by Kiev’s intelligence service. While Ukraine has denied responsibility, officials in Kiev have hinted at their role in the blast on numerous occasions.

USA Today/RT