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Putin unlikely to give in to Trump’s Friday deadline to agree ceasefire
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US president Donald Trump is reportedly considering imposing new sanctions on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by Friday.
Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – vessels whose ownership is secret – transport oil around the world to evade western sanctions. White House sources say the sanctions would an easy first step to try to force Mr Putin into a truce, according to the FT.
But sources close to the Kremlin say Mr Putin is unlikely to bow to the sanctions ultimatum.
The US president has threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions and impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy its oil, of which the biggest are China and India.
Mr Putin’s goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace agreement, a source told news agency Reuters.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday in an attempt to convince Mr Putin to sign a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine.
Russia says its forces have seized full control of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine after nearly 16 months of fierce fighting, a claim Kyiv has dismissed as “propaganda.”
So why does this small town matter?
Chasiv Yar, whose name means “Quiet Ravine,” had a pre-war population of around 12,000. Perched on higher ground in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, it once served as a regrouping point and artillery base for Ukrainian forces.
Its elevated terrain, reinforced concrete factory and dense apartment blocks made it one of Ukraine’s best defended positions.
For Moscow, taking Chasiv Yar would remove an obstacle to advancing westwards towards key “fortress cities” in the Donbas, including Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Russian analysts say it could also be used to target Ukrainian forces in northern Donetsk and disrupt their supply lines.
The battle for Chasiv Yar has been among the longest and bloodiest of the war. Russia’s defence ministry claims its paratroopers cleared over 4,200 buildings under heavy Ukrainian fire, though this has not been independently verified.
Yet Ukrainian analysts have downplayed the town’s importance, arguing Russia has paid a heavy price for limited gains.
Some Russian commentators also call it a tactical rather than strategic victory, pointing to the slow pace of Moscow’s advance.
Today, Chasiv Yar lies largely in ruins after months of shelling and airstrikes. Most residents fled long ago. Only a few hundred remained last year, sheltering in basements as utilities collapsed.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow tomorrow to meet with Russian leadership, a source familiar with the plan has said.
Officials in Washington provided few details of Witkoff’s schedule.
“The president has noted, of course, that Special Envoy Witkoff will be traveling to Russia this week, so we can confirm that from this podium,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters.
“What that will entail, I have no details for you.”
Dmitry Medvedev, once seen in the West as a moderniser, has reinvented himself as one of Moscow’s most hawkish voices, and has now triggered a sharp rebuke from US President Donald Trump.
Mr Medvedev was elected president in 2008 when Vladimir Putin was barred by term limits. He led Russia for four years before steppung aside to let Mr Putin return to the Kremlin.
Educated as a lawyer and once described by colleagues as polite and intellectual, he initially raised hopes in Washington by signing the New START nuclear treaty with Barack Obama and speaking of reform.
But his presidency also saw Russia’s brief war with Georgia and failed attempts to curb corruption or strengthen civil society.
After returning to the role of prime minister, Mr Medvedev’s influence waned further, especially after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Pushed out of government in 2020, he became deputy chairman of the Security Council and emerged after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a fierce supporter of the war.
He has called Ukrainians “cockroaches” and warned of nuclear strikes, language critics call openly genocidal.
Until recently, his statements were largely dismissed as provocative noise. But last month, after Mr Medvedev criticised US airstrikes on Iran and hinted at nuclear threats, Mr Trump fired back, calling him a “failed former President” and warning him to “watch his words.”
In response, Mr Trump announced the deployment of US nuclear submarines, the first time Mr Medvedev’s rhetoric has sparked a direct reaction from Washington.
The Kremlin’s attempt to downplay former president Dmitry Medvedev’s role in foreign policy is part of a broader effort to obscure its use of nuclear threats, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed yesterday that officials like Mr Medvedev are entitled to their own “assessments” but insisted that President Vladimir Putin alone sets Russia’s foreign policy.
“The main thing is the president’s position,” he said.
But the ISW argues this distancing tactic is misleading. The think tank says that Mr Medevev’s increasingly aggressive and provocative statements, including nuclear and inflammatory language aimed at the West, are part of a top-down Kremlin information campaign.
ISW notes that Medvedev does not independently shape policy and that the Kremlin would be able to silence him if it chose, given its tight grip on state messaging and media.
Instead, ISW argues, the Kremlin appears to encourage Mr Medvedev’s rhetoric as a strategic tool. This makes Mr Putin seem more moderate by contrast, and creates room for the Russian president to escalate threats or demands while maintaining a calculated image of restraint.
President Donald Trump’s administration is considering additional sanctions on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers if Russian president Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by Friday, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
It would mark the first time the US has imposed sanctions on Moscow since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Russia has used a shadow fleet of ageing oil tankers to ship oil around the world as a method of evading western restrictions imposed in the wake of its full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
The ownership of the fleet is hidden and it avoids using services from western companies
The Independent is seeking to verify this report.
The Kremlin is gradually coordinating its response to Donald Trump’s decision to reposition two American nuclear submarines closer to Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
While Russian officials were initially slow to react following Mr Trump’s announcement last week, the ISW said a growing number of Kremlin officials have since dismissed the move as emotional and portrayed Russia as the more responsible actor.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that any talk of nuclear escalation was “premature” and described Mr Trump’s reaction as “very emotional”.
He insisted Russia take a “very careful” and “responsible” approach to nuclear issues.
Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, similarly said foreign policy should be “less emotional and more rational”, while State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveev also characterised Mr Trump’s actions as emotional.
Deputy Viktor Volodatsky accused Mr Trump of attempting to intimidate Russia, but insisted the submarine move posed no real threat.
Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov added: “Russia is not threatening anyone,” and warned that Mr Trump was mistaken if he believed the move would instil fear.
Russia carried out its largest attack on Lozova, a railway hub east of Ukraine, with dozens of drone strikes that left two people dead and wounded 13 others, including two children, Ukrainian officials said.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the attack involved 34 drones and damaged the train station and a nearby rail depot.
It temporarily knocked out power to 80% of the town of around 50,000 in the Kharkiv region, which is connected by rail to strategic cities in Ukraine’s east.
“Critical infrastructure, apartment buildings and private homes have been damaged … Lozova has endured the largest attack since the beginning of the war,” Serhiy Zelenskiy, head of the town council, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Rubble and debris littered the station, a stately Soviet-era building which was heavily damaged in the attack.
“For Lozova it was a very unusual situation. Of course there have been strikes before, but nothing as big as what we had this evening,” said local resident Oksana Samoilenko, 41.
Some residents with cars had left the town earlier in the morning following the strike, she said.
State railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said one of its employees was among the two people killed and four others wounded.
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