White House doubts NYT report of Putin open to talks amid latest escalation of strikes

The representative of the White House, John Kirby, believes that Vladimir Putin does not behave like a person who is ready to sit down with Ukraine at the negotiating table. Previously, such a hypothesis appeared in the article of journalists of The New Tork Times.

In December, the well-known American newspaper, citing sources, wrote that since September, Putin has allegedly hinted at a readiness for a truce, which would stop hostilities at the current positions. Supposedly, a year ago, in the fall of 2022, the dictator was interested in a ceasefire agreement after Ukraine defeated the Russian army in Kharkiv Oblast.

"For all the ballyhoo that I heard in the last few days about Mr. Putin in some press reports that he’s all of a sudden willing to negotiate, he sure doesn’t act like a guy who’s willing to negotiate," Kirby responded.

According to him, Putin definitely "is doing everything he can to try to put the Ukrainians on their back feet, which is why it’s so important that the supplemental funding request that the President put forward gets passed."

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, condemned Russia's massive attack on Ukraine on Tuesday, saying that such actions by Moscow testify to its true intentions in this war.

The President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, urged partners not to trust Russia's statements about its alleged readiness for negotiations, calling them potential tactical tricks.