US arms flow to Ukraine again; Kremlin mulls ceasefire proposal
The American military help is vital for Ukraine’s shorthanded and weary army, which is having a tough time keeping Russia’s bigger military force at bay
KYIV: US arms deliveries to Ukraine resumed on Wednesday, officials said, a day after the Trump administration lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv in its war against Russia, and Ukrainian officials signaled that they were open to a 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that it’s important not to “get ahead” of the question of responding to the ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting “detailed information” about it from the US and suggested that Russia must get that first before it can take a position.
Arms deliveries to Ukraine have already resumed through a Polish logistics center, the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland announced on Wednesday. The deliveries go through a NATO and US hub in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow that’s has been used to ferry Western weapons into neighboring Ukraine about 70 km away.
The American military help is vital for Ukraine’s shorthanded and weary army, which is having a tough time keeping Russia’s bigger military force at bay. But for Moscow, more American aid spells potentially more difficulty in achieving its war aims and likely will be a tough sell in Moscow for Washington’s peace efforts.
Meanwhile, an intensifying Russian effort to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region has yielded breakthroughs in recent days, Ukrainian soldiers said. The fighting has escalated as ceasefire talks come to a head, with Moscow intent on taking back its territory and Kyiv determined to hold onto it as a bargaining chip in any negotiations.
Ukrainian forces made a daring raid into the Russian region last August in the first foreign occupation of Russian territory since World War II. They have held on despite intense pressure from tens of thousands of Russian and North Korean troops.
Recent fighting reportedly has focused on the Kursk town of Sudzha, which is a key Ukrainian supply hub and operational base.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the American delegation to Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia, said that Washington would present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin, which has so far opposed anything short of a permanent end to the conflict and hasn’t accepted any concessions.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcome the US-Ukraine agreement and said on X that “the ball is now clearly in Russia’s court.”
Russian lawmakers signaled wariness about the prospect of a ceasefire.“Russia is advancing (on the battlefield), so it will be different with Russia,” senior Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev noted in a post on the messaging app Telegram.“Any agreements (with the understanding of the need for compromise) should be on our terms, not American,” Kosachev wrote.
Lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet said that “Russia is not interested in continuing” the war but at the same time Moscow “will not tolerate being strung along.” The outcome of the Saudi Arabia talks puts the ball back in Russia’s court and places the onus on Washington to persuade Moscow to accept and implement the ceasefire.
