2024-03-29 05:11:36
In an interview with the Moscow daily “Izvestia” published on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Ukraine’s proposed peace plan as meaningless. “We are definitely ready for talks, but not on the basis of Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’,” Lavrov said, according to the newspaper. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president is personally urging the US House Speaker to pass the blocked aid package.
A proposed peace summit will only be successful if its foundations are changed, including Russia’s participation, Lavrov said. He continues to reject the provisions of the plan, which, among other things, calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops, as unacceptable. “How might any serious politician in Washington, Brussels, London, Paris or Berlin say that there is no alternative to the ‘Zelensky formula’?”
With a view to the aid package that has been blocked in the US Congress for months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has now addressed the Republican Chairman of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, directly. “I have informed the Speaker of the House of Representatives (…) regarding the situation on the battlefield, in particular regarding the dramatic increase in Russian air terror,” Zelenskyj said on Thursday following a phone call with Johnson on the Telegram online service. “In this situation, the rapid passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is crucial,” Zelensky said, according to the minutes of the conversation, which he published on Telegram.
The US has been Kiev’s main military supporter since the Russian invasion in February 2022. But for months, Republicans in Congress have been blocking a new Ukraine aid package worth $60 billion (55.50 billion euros) under pressure from former US President Donald Trump, who wants to run for re-election in November. In return for their approval, they are demanding tougher measures to secure the US border with Mexico. US President Joe Biden had repeatedly called on the House of Representatives to abandon the blockade.
Meanwhile, Russian forces attacked infrastructure facilities in the Kamianske district near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Friday. According to the region’s governor, Sergiy Lissak, at least one person was injured in the attack. “The enemy’s main target is our people and vital facilities of the population,” writes Lissak on Telegram.
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