Kyiv says it’s ready to discuss halting air attacks with Moscow
Ukraine is prepared to consider an “air ceasefire” with Russia, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera published Wednesday, August 13.
He said the United States, as one scenario, proposed to the Kremlin a full ceasefire - including a halt to missile strikes and drone attacks - but Moscow rejected the offer.
“None of these scenarios was accepted by Russia. Air strikes are a key instrument of Moscow’s psychological pressure on Ukraine and of influencing our position,” Podolyak said in response to a question. “Russia is unlikely to give up the option of using aircraft and the mass use of drones. However, Ukraine is ready to discuss it, ready to consider this scenario and views it as a starting phase for realistic negotiations.”
Podolyak described a “second instrument” that escalates Russia’s war as “relentless attacks along the entire front line, which, however, are being repelled” by Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
On August 5, Volodymyr Zelensky said he fully supports the US president’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire.
“We have tried many different formats for how to stop the fire, how to stop the killing. We spoke with Russia and proposed silence in the skies - no missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure and on the energy sector. All of this was violated by the Russians,” the Ukrainian president said.
A meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska will be held at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base on Friday, August 15.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at least part of the meeting will be one-on-one with only interpreters present, without advisers.
Trump has called the meeting a “trial.” “The President feels: ‘I need to sit down with this guy at the table. I need to meet him in person. I need to hear him in person. I need to assess the situation by looking at him,’” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, commenting on the summit.