PRZEMYSL: President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, after Kyiv and its European allies called for a 30-day ceasefire, is “not enough,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
“An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition,” Macron told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from a trip to Ukraine, adding that Putin was “looking for a way out, but he still wants to buy time.”
Western allies have repeatedly accused Putin of delaying tactics with regards to any potential bid to end the conflict in Ukraine, which has dragged on since February 2022.
Asked if this was another such example, Macron replied: “Yes, it is.”
Macron visited Kyiv on Saturday with the leaders of Germany, Britain and Poland, with the four of them and President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday.
Macron warned that Russia would face “massive sanctions” if it did not comply.
The United States and other countries back the proposal, the leaders said.
Speaking at the Kremlin in the early hours of Sunday, Putin proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul in the coming days but did not address the 30-day ceasefire proposal.
“It’s a way of not answering... of showing that he is committed while also trying to maintain ambiguity in the eyes of the Americans,” Macron said.
“We need to stand firm with the Americans and say that the ceasefire is unconditional and then we can discuss the rest,” he added.
Macron also said that Putin’s proposal was “unacceptable for the Ukrainians because they cannot accept parallel discussions while they continue to be bombed.”
He also cast doubt on whether Zelensky would agree to talks in Istanbul given the “complicated” Russian-Ukrainian negotiations held there shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Putin’s proposed Ukraine talks ‘not enough’: Macron
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Putin’s proposed Ukraine talks ‘not enough’: Macron
Russia jails soldiers who killed pro-Kremlin American
- Court in Russian-held Donetsk found the soldiers guilty of beating Russell Bentley, 64, to death in April 2024, after they mistook him for a US saboteur
- Bentley — who served in the US army in his youth — had been granted Russian nationality and portrayed himself as the only American fighting for Moscow
MOSCOW: A court in Russian-controlled Ukraine sentenced four Russian soldiers to jail on Monday for the killing of an American communist who had fought with pro-Moscow forces since 2014.
Moscow rarely punishes its soldiers in Ukraine for committing crimes, portraying them as national heroes at home.
The court in Russian-held Donetsk found the soldiers guilty of beating Russell Bentley, 64, to death in April 2024, after they mistook him for a US saboteur.
They then put his body in the back of a car and blew it up.
Bentley — known as “Texas” — was a local celebrity in the city of Donetsk, where he lived, and his disappearance sparked outrage.
The self-styled communist often made social media clips backing Moscow’s Ukraine campaign, produced content for Russia’s state-backed media and had fought alongside pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Two of the soldiers — Major Vitaly Vansyatsky and Lt. Andrei Iordanov — were sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony and stripped of their military titles. Sergeant Vladislav Agaltsev was handed 11 years while another soldier was given 1.5 years for “concealing crimes.”
The court said the troops did not know Bentley and detained him as he prepared to film the consequences of a Ukrainian strike, thinking he was a spy.
It said the soldiers “reported to their military unit command on the discovery of a saboteur,” before putting him in a car with a bag on his head, where they “beat and tortured” him to “get a confession” — ultimately killing him.
They then put his body in the trunk and blew up the car, the court said.
Russian soldiers in Ukraine have long been accused by Kyiv and international rights groups of torturing captives.
Bentley — who served in the US army in his youth — had been granted Russian nationality and portrayed himself as the only American fighting for Moscow.
In 2022, he told Newsweek that he had several times been “within seconds or inches of death” but added that: “I believe in guardian angels because of how lucky I’ve been here.”
