Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged that Russia face additional sanctions if it refuses to agree to an "immediate ceasefire" during his upcoming summit with US President Donald Trump.
Speaking after a call with Trump and European leaders ahead of the US-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday, Zelensky said, "We hope that the central topic at the meeting will be a ceasefire. An immediate ceasefire."
He added, "Sanctions must be in place and must be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire," while addressing the press alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin.
Ukraine in March agreed to a US proposal for a ceasefire and has said there can be no substantive peace talks with Russia without one.
Russia has rejected the ceasefire proposal and stalled on Zelensky's call for direct talks with Putin.
Zelensky said he believes “Putin is bluffing” about the impact of sanctions and that “sanctions are hitting Russia’s war economy hard.”
“Putin definitely does not want peace; he wants to occupy Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “Putin cannot fool anyone.”
Trump will speak to his Russian counterpart about the Ukraine war on Friday in Alaska, the two presidents' first standalone summit since a 2018 meeting in Helsinki where Trump's cowed appearance haunted him long afterward.
Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine was gaining speed and seizing ground Wednesday as European leaders held online talks with Trump ahead of his Alaska summit with Putin.
With the world's eyes on the looming Alaska summit, Russia has made rapid advances this week in a narrow but important section of the front line in Ukraine.
According to an AFP analysis of battlefield data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces made their biggest 24-hour advance into Ukraine in more than a year on Tuesday.
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