Donald Trump warned that American troops could become involved in Russia‘s war on Ukraine if the conflict “escalates to WW3”. The US President issued the warning on Fox News on Tuesday, just hours after he spoke on the phone to Vladimir Putin for about 90 minutes. After the call, Putin agreed to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities and infrastructure for 30 days, but hours later, Russian forces launched a widespread attack on Ukraine, striking infrastructure and hospitals.
Ukraine also appeared to have targeted the Kavkazskaya oil facility in Krasnodar, Russia. Images show the plant up in flames, with huge columns of smoke billowing from the facility. Just hours before both sides appeared to ignore pledges of a partial ceasefire, Trump issued his warning. He said: “We want to get [the war] over with… Right now, you have a lot of guns pointing at each other and a ceasefire without going a little bit further would have been tough.” The US President added: “Look, we’re doing this – there are no Americans involved. There could be if you end up in World War III over this, which is so ridiculous. But, you know, strange things happen.”
Russia and Ukraine are set to exchange 175 prisoners each today. The Kremlin described the move as a “gesture of goodwill.” But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed it would have happened anyway.
Russia will also release 23 wounded Ukrainians from its medical facilities. Putin also demanded yesterday that Ukraine stop recruiting and training forces during a potential temporary ceasefire.
The Russian President also called for a halt to all foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine but failed to mention Russia‘s military support from North Korea, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Iran.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War added in its daily roundup that the Russian President “claimed that Russia and the United States should continue their efforts toward a peace settlement in ‘bilateral mode’, excluding Ukraine or Europe from future negotiations about the war in Ukraine.”
Experts added that Vladimir Putin reiterated to Donald Trump his demands for “a resolution to the war that amounts to Ukrainian capitulation”.
The Kremlin says the Russian president emphasised the need to address the “root causes” of the war.
These “amount to Russian demands for Ukraine‘s permanent neutrality and the installation of a pro-Russian Government in Kyiv”.