KYIV: Ukraine on Thursday announced evacuations of kids from various cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region threatened by Russian forces, as Moscow said it saw nothing novel in US President Donald Trump’s call for it to stop its war.
The evacuation news came as the Kremlin said that while it was set for “mutually polite speech” with Trump, his statements on the issue marked no tear with the earlier US presidency.
Trump on Wednesday threatened new sanctions on Moscow if Russia did not strike a deal to end the defense strategy against Ukraine, which he called “ridiculous”.
But on the floor in northern Ukraine, Kharkiv region government Oleg Synegubov said” 267 children and their families are to be evacuated from 16 communities to secure sites”.
Synegubov said the towns and villages affected are near Kupiansk, a village which Russia has tried to capture for times where battle is raging around its fringes.
Overwhelmed Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold back a better resourced Russian troops across a longer top range.
” The decision was made due to the intensified angry firing. We urge people with adolescents to keep their lives and left the dangerous places,” Synegubov said on social media.
He previously said a 54-year-old woman was killed in a Soviet invasion on a town near Kupiansk.
Kyiv also said that Soviet weather attacks had killed at least three people and wounded tens in another front towns.
‘ Waiting for signals ‘
Expectations are higher that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump will soon carry a phone call to discuss the issue, after the democratic pledged on the campaign route to take a swift end to the fighting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “ready for equal, mutually respectful dialogue”.
” We are waiting for signals, which we have not yet received,” he added.
Russia also said it considered the policies of Joe Biden’s administration” criminal”, calling on Trump to” correct” them.
Trump has not said publicly how he sees the contours of a potential peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Putin has outlined maximalist demands that include the Ukrainian withdrawal from parts of its own territory still under Kyiv’s control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has meanwhile ruled out territorial concessions, though he has said he would consider trying to secure the return of land captured by Russia through “diplomatic” means.
Kyiv is also demanding security guarantees from Nato and the United States along with the deployment of Western, including American, peacekeeping troops.
Sanctions threat
In a post on Truth Social, Trump on Wednesday told Putin to make a deal “now” and threatened “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions” on Moscow.
Trump said he was” not looking to hurt Russia” and had “always had a very good relationship with President Putin,” a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past.
” All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” he said.
Asked about the comments on Thursday, Peskov said the Kremlin did not see anything “particularly new” in Trump’s threat of sanctions.
He said it was clear from Trump’s first presidency that the Republican “liked” sanctions, adding that Moscow was” closely following” all of his statements.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed the barrage of Western sanctions that it has been hit with since ordering troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian economy has largely defied Western hopes the restrictions would push it into economic collapse.
Peskov on Thursday conceded that Russia faced economic “problems” like “almost all countries” but said Russia had the resources to meet” all military requirements”.
Russia’s troops have been advancing on the battlefield in recent months, while both Moscow and Kyiv have increased their aerial attacks deep behind the front lines.
Moscow’s army on Thursday claimed to have captured another small settlement in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russia declared to have annexed in 2022.
