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Demands for ceasefire deadline come as UK and French military officials meet in Kyiv
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The US will know “soon enough” if Putin is “serious about peace”, Marco Rubio said, as Nato leaders call for Moscow to be given a deadline to accept a ceasefire deal.
The US secretary of state told Nato allies that Donald Trump will be able to see Russia’s true intentions in a matter of weeks, amid reports that the US president has grown wary of Vladimir Putin’s stalling on an agreement.
“We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope they are,” Rubio said after a two-day Nato meeting.
European officials have called for Putin to face “red lines” in terms of a timescale for accepting peace/
David Lammy accused Vladimir Putin of continuing to “drag his feet” on accepting the proposed ceasefire deal, after Moscow rejected an offer for a full 30-day ceasefire in March which Ukraine agreed to.
A former Russian defence official was convicted on Friday of taking bribes and sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, state news agency TASS said.
Andrei Chekmazov, a reserve colonel, was accused of accepting kickbacks worth more than 16 million roubles ($188,000) from the head of a company which had received contracts from the defence ministry.
While waging a war in Ukraine that is now into its fourth year, president Vladimir Putin has launched a drive to punish corruption in the armed forces, leading to a rash of prosecutions.
More than a dozen people have been arrested in the past 12 months.
The US will know “soon enough” if Putin is “serious about peace”, Marco Rubio said, as Nato leaders call for Moscow to be given a deadline to accept a ceasefire deal.
The US secretary of state told Nato allies that Donald Trump will be able to see Russia’s true intentions in a matter of weeks, amid reports that the US president has grown wary of Vladimir Putin’s stalling on an agreement.
“We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope they are,” Rubio said after a two-day Nato meeting.
Putin’s drone strikes on Ukraine have surged since peace talks began earlier this year, analysis by The Telegraph has shown.
Data from the Ukrainian Air Force Command updates found that in the 30 days after ceasefire talks began, there were 4,776 drone strikes launched by Russia – over 1,500 more than the 3,148 seen in the 30 days prior.
Turkey’s foreign minister has said a potential peace deal between Ukraine would be “difficult to digest” but better than the alternative of “death and destruction”.
Hakan Fidan told Reuters that Turkey supported a US initiative to seek an end to the war in Ukraine, but that the sides remained a “little bit far away” from reaching a deal.
“It will be extremely difficult to digest any proposal,” Fidan said. “But when we look at the other option, which is more death and destruction, I think whatever the conditions that we have… will be more reasonable” than the alternative.
Turkey, a NATO member, has maintained cordial ties with both Kyiv and Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022
Since Donald Trump took office, the US has demanded its Nato allies up their defence spending to 5 per cent.
On Friday, Nato’s secretary-general Mark Rutte said allies were committed to spending more, adding that many members have already begun to do so.
Almost a third of allies still do not meet Nato’s target of 2 per cent of their GDP on defence spending.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is not insisting that its allies hit the 5% spending target overnight, but “we think that’s what NATO allies need to be spending for NATO to face the threats that itself has identified and articulated.”
Vatican foreign minister archbishop Paul Gallagher held a phone call with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss Ukraine, the Vatican said.
They discussed the three-year conflict and “some initiatives aimed at stopping the military actions”, the Vatican announced.
Mr Gallagher expressed the Vatican’s willingness “to continue its humanitarian effort in matters regarding the exchange of prisoners”, the statement added.
Last October, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Francis at the Vatican last October to ask for the pontiff’s help in securing the release of Ukrainians held captive by Russia.
Lavrov met the Vatican’s number two official, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
Francis, currently out of public view as he recovers from double pneumonia, provoked anger among Ukrainian officials in March 2024 when he suggested they should have the courage of the “white flag” to negotiate an end to the war.
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