Rubio, Kellogg suggest Trump should be tougher on Russia – WSJ
15 April 18:26
Some members of US President Donald Trump’s team are demanding that he take a tougher stance against Russia in resolving the war in Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal writes about this, citing its own sources, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
What do Rubio and Kellogg say?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet shown any real interest in ending the fighting, and therefore advise Trump to be skeptical of Moscow’s desire for peace.
In particular, they recommend that he be more cautious in his relations with Putin and take a tougher stance on the Kremlin’s demands for territorial concessions from Kyiv.
What Steve Witkoff says
At the same time, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has already met with Putin three times, believes that the Russian leader wants to conclude a peace agreement. According to the WSJ, the US president now shares this opinion.
According to the WSJ, even Trump’s advisers, who favor a tougher approach to Russia, support his goal of ending the three-year war. However, the shelling of Sumy on Palm Sunday, April 13, only underscored the divisions among Trump’s senior advisers.
Earlier, Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the outbreak of war in Ukraine. However, he later also named Putin as one of the perpetrators of the war.
