Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to end the war in Ukraine but will try to buy time for U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian lawmaker and secretary of the Verkhovna Rada’s national security committee Roman Kostenko said. The politician outlined how long a ceasefire might last and whether strikes on energy infrastructure would pause.
Moscow will make statements so that Washington does not seize the entire shadow fleet at once, Kostenko said in a clip published by UNIAN. Given that, a 1–2 day or even weeklong ceasefire is possible. An “energy truce” could also happen. In his view, there will be no end to the war in the near term; Russia’s actions will focus on protecting key interests, producing new missiles and resuming hostilities.
Kostenko’s comments were published midday January 26, after the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi. The Ukrainian politician said Putin “will play with negotiations”: short-term understandings with Trump are possible to signal apparent “readiness,” but the Kremlin has no real plans to end the war.
“There definitely won’t be an end to the war; I don’t see it. Well, anything can happen, but I don’t see it in the near future. Putin will toy with such negotiations: with energy truces, with one- or two-day or weeklong ceasefires, just to keep Trump’s attention,” Kostenko said.
According to the lawmaker, Russia is using the talks so its shadow fleet isn’t seized, to avoid 100% sanctions on Russians or their satellites, and to keep building missiles.
“This is part of a game that will lead back to renewed hostilities. It’s simply Putin’s game,” he concluded.
The third round of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi was held January 22–24 with delegations from Ukraine, the United States and Russia. Washington expressed confidence in the talks’ effectiveness; Ukraine put forward proposals for an international military peacekeeping contingent and a demilitarized zone. Russia’s proposal, meanwhile, was Ukraine’s capitulation and ceding part of Donetsk region. A representative of the United Arab Emirates told media there was reportedly “unexpected chemistry” between the delegations. On the morning of January 26, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “constructive negotiations” were underway and stressed the importance of adhering to the “spirit of Anchorage.”
During the Abu Dhabi talks, Russia carried out a massive strike on Ukraine, launching nearly 400 drones and Zircon and Kh-22 missiles.
