At a UN Security Council meeting on July 31, senior US diplomat John Kelley said President Donald Trump had given a deadline of August 8 for Russia and Ukraine to reach a long-term ceasefire and peace agreement. He affirmed that the US is ready to deploy additional measures to ensure this goal.
Previously, Mr. Trump warned that the US would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia if Moscow did not show clear progress in ending the conflict. Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of talks in Istanbul this year, reaching a number of agreements to exchange prisoners and soldiers' bodies, but have not made a breakthrough to end the more than three-year conflict.
Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said Moscow was ready to continue negotiations in Istanbul, but said that some Western forces still maintain a confrontation ideology, considering diplomacy a tool to put pressure on Russia.
Deputy Ambassador of Ukraine Khrystyna Hayovyshyn called on Russia to face it with solidarity and decisive action. She stressed that Ukraine wanted a comprehensive, fair and sustainable peace based on the United Nations Charter, and called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire as the first step to end the conflict.
