On Thursday, Yury Ushakov, an adviser on foreign policy for the Kremlin, stated that efforts between Russia and the United States to negotiate a peace agreement in Ukraine are still ongoing. This contrasts sharply with remarks made the previous day by a senior diplomat who suggested that the momentum for reaching a deal had diminished.
On August 15, President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a short summit in Alaska, which was expected to help break the stalemate in peace talks concerning Ukraine. Unfortunately, the meeting did not yield any significant progress, and since then, Trump has taken a more confrontational stance toward Moscow, expressing his “deep disappointment” with Putin.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov commented on Wednesday to state media that the “momentum” from the Alaska summit had been “depleted” and accused Ukraine’s European allies of sabotaging the efforts to bring about an end to the conflict between Moscow and Washington.
Ushakov, while not specifically addressing Ryabkov, asserted that it was “entirely inaccurate” to claim that the discussions with U.S. officials regarding a peaceful resolution in Ukraine had reached a standstill.
“The agreements and understandings made in Anchorage might not be to everyone’s satisfaction. For instance, they are unpopular among European nations and the Ukrainian government,” Ushakov remarked during an interview with Channel One, Russia’s state broadcaster. “In other words, those who do not favor a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict are dissatisfied with them.”
Nevertheless, Ushakov affirmed that Russian officials will “persist in their collaboration with the Americans” based on the dialogue between Putin and Trump in Alaska, highlighting that the two leaders had come to a “significant understanding.”
These opposing statements from Moscow arise as U.S. officials consider dispatching long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine—a move that Putin has previously described as leading to a “whole new level of escalation.”
This week, Trump informed reporters at the White House that he had “sort of made a decision” regarding sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, as his frustration grows over Putin’s unwillingness to engage in direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
