Russia and Ukraine must reach agreement by August 8, and Washington is ready for additional measures – US at the UN

An agreement between Russia and Ukraine should be reached by August 8, and the United States is ready for additional measures to ensure peace. This was stated by senior U.S. diplomat John Kelley during a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"Both Russia and Ukraine must agree on a ceasefire and a lasting peace. It is time to make a deal. President Trump made it clear that this must be done by August 8. The United States is prepared to take additional steps to ensure peace," the official said.

He also noted that the United States expresses its condolences to the victims of Russian massive attack on Kyiv and their families and demand an end to such attacks.

Kelley noted that Ukraine is a sovereign member of the UN and has the right to defend itself, recalling the agreement between the United States and the UN that allowed the allies to buy American weapons for Ukraine.

However, the diplomat emphasized that the support for Ukraine is not commensurate with the supply of weapons and material and technical means to Russia by its partners, which allows Moscow to continue its full-scale invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory.

"Last week, we called on all UN member states to help end the war by ending all support for Russia's military actions. Today, we repeat that call," the U.S. representative said.

He reminded that North Korea has supplied Russia with ammunition, missiles, military equipment and about 12,000 soldiers, Iran – ballistics, drones and other technologies, and the official also emphasized china's decisive role in supporting the Russian Federation.

"China, as its representatives has pointed out, does not directly provide weapons to Russia. Nevertheless, China has become the decisive enabler of Russia’s war effort by being the most important supplier of Russia’s war industrial machine. Specifically, China has provided Russia with significant quantities of machine tools, microelectronics, optics, UAV and cruise missile technology, and nitrocellulose, which Russia uses to make propellant for weapons," Kelley said.

The diplomat emphasized that if China were serious about helping to end the war, it would stop supplying these important components to Russia.

• On July 28, Trump shortened his 50-day ultimatum to Putin: he now gave the dictator "10 or 12 days" to conclude a peace deal, otherwise, secondary duties will be applied to buyers of Russian resources.
• The next day, the US president said that Putin has 10 days to end the war against Ukraine. At the same time, the US President believes that the settlement of the war in Ukraine will take a long time.
• On July 30, Trump decided to impose a 25% duty against India starting August 1noting that this country buys most of its weapons from Moscow and is the largest buyer of its resources, while "everyone wants Russia to stop killing in Ukraine." Earlier, India's defense minister said that the country will be able to live without Russian oil, if the US imposes secondary sanctions on countries that buy it.