Russia has added new conditions for a ceasefire to a litany of existing ones, prompting United States President Donald Trump to threaten new sanctions against Russian oil.
Visiting Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the Arkhangelsk, on March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a temporary administration should be installed in Ukraine to lead the country to elections.
Russian officials have been trying to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since negotiations began in February, in an apparent effort to undermine Ukraine’s position.
For example, the Kremlin continued to accuse Ukraine of breaking a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which Moscow proposed on March 18 and Kyiv has not agreed to.
Russian and Ukrainian technical teams have failed to nail down what would be protected under the deal.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he would give his US counterpart a list of energy facilities struck by Ukraine “so that they can present concrete evidence about what the word of the current Ukrainian authorities is worth, if you can call them authorities at all”.
