According to information from the US newspaper The Washington Post, the US official met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior Kiev intelligence officials, with whom he discussed the possibility Negotiate a ceasefire with Moscow until the end of this year.
Ukrainian officials have reportedly told Burns that their goal is to get artillery and missile systems close to the Crimean border and to advance further into eastern Ukraine by the fall.
According to the report, citing people involved in the planning, Kiev then wants to start negotiations with Moscow for the first time since the failure in March last year.
According to the outlet, Ukrainian officials hope that by not taking Crimea, Russia will accept any security guarantees Kiev can get from the West.
The INC When asked about Burns’ assessment of the plans of the Zelenskyi regime, he declined to comment.
Burns’ trip came just before the attempted armed uprising by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, a situation that has already been resolved thanks to the efforts of the Kremlin and the Belarusian government.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Burns recently called his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin, to say his country was not involved in Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny.
After several postponements, Ukraine launched its much-heralded counter-offensive in early June. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that Ukrainian troops are trying to advance south of Donetsk, Artiomovsk (Bakhmut) and Zaporozhye, but without success.
On June 27, the Russian President stated Wladimir Putinclaimed that Ukraine has lost up to 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles since the start of its counteroffensive.