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United States President Donald Trump hinted on July 11 that big developments were about to happen in the Russia-Ukraine situation.
When asked by reporters to comment on Russia’s recent strikes on Ukraine, Trump said, “I know.’ “You’ll be seeing things happen.”
Just a day earlier, Trump said in an interview with NBC that he planned to make an important statement concerning Russia on July 14. He did not elaborate but once again expressed disappointment with how Ukraine peace efforts were proceeding.
Commenting on these remarks, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was looking forward to this statement “to understand exactly what President Trump means.”
Russia’s top diplomat Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart Rubio held a bilateral meeting on July 10 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meeting in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. During the meeting, which lasted for less than an hour, Lavrov presented a new proposal on Ukraine to Rubio.
In a following press conference, Lavrov refused to reveal details of his discussions with Rubio, but took shots at Trump’s recent remarks.
“I want to respond with Donald Trump’s words, so I’ll tell you this: wait for big surprises,” Lavrov explained. “Well, I’m not sure about big surprises, but you understand – if you’re familiar with diplomatic affairs, you’ll know that we often keep things under wraps. There are issues that aren’t openly discussed. Yes, we talked about Ukraine and reaffirmed the position outlined by President Putin, including during the conversation with President Trump on July 3.”
When asked about the proposal the very next day, Peskov also refused to provide any details for what he described as “obvious reasons.”
“I cannot reveal them to you [Russia’s proposals] for obvious reasons,” Peskov said at a news conference.
After assuming office earlier this year, Trump made some serious efforts to broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Some progress was made with both sides holding direct talks in Turkey and swapping prisoners. However, fundamental differences remain in place.
Russia insists on a comprehensive agreement that addresses the root causes of the current situation, while Ukraine is only seeking a temporary ceasefire that would allow it to reorganize and rearm its forces. Meanwhile, the U.S., or at least just Trump, appears to be interested in halting the fighting in any way possible.
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