自以為不可一世後的知難而退抑或灰頭土臉？

US withdraws from formal Ukraine peace negotiations

State Department is changing ‘methodology’ of how it contributes to the talks and will no longer ‘fly around the world at the drop of a hat’

Iona Cleave, 05/02/25

The United States will no longer mediate peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia after Vladimir Putin refused to sign up to a ceasefire.

The State Department said it is changing “the methodology of how we contribute” to the talks and will no longer “fly around the world at the drop of a hat” for meetings.

Putin declares brief ‘Easter truce’ but Ukraine says Russian attacks continue

Kosta Gak/Catherine Nicholls/Victoria Butenko/Ivana Kottasová, CNN, 04/20/25

CNN — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a brief Easter ceasefire in his war with Ukraine, a declaration met with skepticism in Kyiv as the war enters a crucial phase and US-led negotiations stall.

Putin said “all hostilities” would halt between 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday (11 a.m. ET) and midnight on Monday (5 p.m. Sunday ET).

“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example,” he said, adding that the truce would help Russia determine how sincere Kyiv is about wanting to reach a ceasefire.

However, just hours after the announcement, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of continuing to fight. “According to the report of the commander-in-chief, Russian assault operations continue in some parts of the front line and Russian artillery continues to fire,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address on Saturday night.

Kyiv has responded to the truce declaration with skepticism, with Zelensky pointing out that Putin still has not agreed to a US-led proposal for 30 days of ceasefire.

“If Russia is now suddenly ready to actually join the format of complete and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act in a mirror image, as it will on the Russian side. Silence in response to silence, strikes in defense of strikes,” Zelensky said, calling for the Easter truce to be extended to 30 days.

“This will show Russia’s true intentions, because 30 hours is enough for headlines, but not for real confidence-building measures. Thirty days can give peace a chance,” he said.

The timing of the announcement also sparked some questions – coming one day after the Trump administration indicated it was running out of patience with Russia and Ukraine, and just hours after Russia’s Defense Ministry announced its forces had pushed Ukrainian troops from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, where the Ukrainians staged a surprise incursion last year.

“Unfortunately, we have had a long history of (Putin’s) statements not matching his actions… Russia can agree at any time to the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which has been on the table since March,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.

Hours after declaring the ceasefire, Putin attended an Orthodox Easter service at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, alongside the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin and other worshippers, according to Reuters.

Putin could be seen holding a lit red candle and crossing himself as Patriarch Kirill led the service. Kirill is the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, a faithful backer of the Russian leader and an advocate for the war in Ukraine.

Attacks continue, say Ukrainian officials

Zelensky said late Saturday local time that Putin’s Easter truce has not extended to Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, where Ukrainian troops have been active.

“Hostilities continue, and Russian strikes persist. Russian artillery can still be heard in certain directions of the front, regardless of the Russian leader’s promise of silence,” Zelensky said in a post on X. “Russian drones are in use. In some areas, the situation has become quieter.”

The head of Kherson’s regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Saturday evening local time that a high-rise building in the Dniprovskyi district of Kherson had caught fire after being struck by drones. Russian drones also attacked the villages of Urozhayne and Stanislav, he said.

“The shelling continues and civilians are under attack again,” Prokudin said. “This is another confirmation that Russia has nothing sacred.”

CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and several other regions soon after Putin’s announcement, with the city’s military administration warning of a Russian drone attack. Officials urged people not to leave shelters until the alert was over.

Andrii Kovalenko, who heads the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, a government body, said on Telegram at 7 p.m. local time that “the Russians continue to fire in all directions.” Moscow and Kyiv are currently on the same time.

Ukrainian troops at three separate locations along the front lines told CNN that as of 8 p.m. Saturday, there was no sign of fighting easing.

There have been no pauses in the conflict since Russia launched its unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The sudden nature of Putin’s announcement and the short duration of the proposed truce gave Kyiv little room to prepare or maneuver. Many Ukrainian troops participating in ongoing assaults or reconnaissance missions would have been in position already, as any moves are typically made during the night due to the threat from Russian troops.

Ukraine has previously been skeptical about such temporary pauses in conflict, having rejected a temporary ceasefire to coincide with the Orthodox Christmas holiday in January 2023, believing that Russia had ulterior motives in calling for a stop to the fighting, such as using the pause to bring in more troops.

A key moment

Putin’s announcement comes at a pivotal time for the war.

As well as in Kursk, fighting continues along the eastern front line, which has barely moved in the past three years as neither side has been able to make significant gains.

While Ukraine has recently managed to push Russian troops back from areas around Toretsk, Russia has been inching forward near Kupyansk, Lyman and Kurakhove, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor.

Separately, the two sides conducted one of the largest prisoner exchanges of the conflict on Saturday.

According to Zelensky, 277 captured Ukrainian soldiers were returned home. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had swapped 246 captured Ukrainian soldiers for the same number of Russian troops, and that as a “gesture of good will” Russia also exchanged 31 wounded Ukrainian troops for 15 wounded Russian servicemen.

As with previous exchanges, the swap was mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

Russia and Ukraine Hold U.S.-Mediated Talks: What to Know

American envoys met with Ukrainian officials on Sunday and were set to meet with Russian officials on Monday. The discussions were expected to focus on halting attacks on energy facilities.

Ivan Nechepurenko and Constant Méheut, 03/23/25

Ivan Nechepurenko reported from Tbilisi, Georgia, and Constant Méheut from Kyiv, Ukraine.

The United States is holding separate talks with Russia and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia to iron out details of a possible limited cease-fire in what could be a crucial step toward a full cessation of hostilities in the war.

Russia and Ukraine both agreed this past week to halt strikes on energy infrastructure temporarily, but how and when to implement that partial truce are questions that have yet to be decided as attacks persist.

The talks — held in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, with American representatives mediating — are expected to focus on hammering out those details and on safety for shipping in the Black Sea.

Ukraine was the first to hold talks with the United States, on Sunday. It will be followed by Russia on Monday. Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defense minister leading his country’s delegation, said the talks on Sunday had begun around 5:30 p.m. Kyiv time and ended some five hours later. “The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy,” he wrote on social media, without offering details.

A Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said the Ukrainian delegation might hold additional discussions with U.S. officials on Monday, depending on progress.

Steve Witkoff, whom President Trump has tapped to be his personal envoy to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, has said that the ultimate goal of the talks is a 30-day full cease-fire that would allow time for negotiations on a permanent truce.

But the path toward such a truce has been shaky. Moscow continues to insist on maximalist positions, including about asserting territorial control and ensuring Ukraine never joins NATO. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly said that it will not concede to the Kremlin’s demands and accused Mr. Putin of stalling for time.

Unlike previous cease-fire discussions, which involved top government officials from all sides, this new round will focus on technical matters and will mostly involve diplomats and government advisers. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, said that the American delegation included some of his own staff, along with Michael Anton, policy planning director at the State Department; and aides to the national security adviser, Michael Waltz.

The Russian delegation

Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Friday that Mr. Putin had personally selected negotiators for the talks, a delegation led by Grigory B. Karasin, a senior Russian diplomat and lawmaker; and Sergey O. Beseda, an adviser to the head of the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the country’s domestic intelligence agency.

While Mr. Karasin has been involved in sensitive foreign policy talks before, Mr. Beseda’s choice came as a surprise to some.

An influential spymaster, Mr. Beseda was head of the F.S.B. department responsible for international intelligence operations. He has been described by Russian news outlets as one of the main sources of intelligence that convinced Mr. Putin in 2022 that there was pro-Russian sentiment in Ukraine and that a brisk invasion could easily dismantle the government in Kyiv.

In 2023, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, called Mr. Beseda a “very problematic person” for Ukraine who “has done a lot of evil.”

The Ukrainian delegation

Mr. Umerov, Ukraine’s defense minister, led the negotiations in Riyadh. He was joined by Pavlo Palisa, a top military adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.