Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: Sergey Guneev / EPA-EFE / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL) 
European Council President Charles Michel warned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, not to speak with Russia on behalf of the European Union.
Ukrainian forces withdrew from a section of an embattled town in the eastern Donetsk region, a retreat from part of a strategic position that signalled a setback in the struggle to hold off Russia’s advance.
Putin says Trump ‘sincerely’ wants to end the war in Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin said Russia took seriously statements by Donald Trump that he had proposals to end the war in Ukraine quickly and supported them.
“I’m not familiar with his possible proposals on how he intends to do this, and that is, of course, the key question,” Putin told a news conference on Thursday in Astana, Kazakhstan, where he attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. “But I have no doubt that he says this sincerely, and we will support it.”
He spoke a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Bloomberg TV in an interview that Trump “should tell us today” what his plans for ending the war would be if he wins November’s US presidential election. Zelensky warned that any proposal must avoid violating Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Putin told reporters that he saw some of last week’s election debate between Trump and President Joe Biden but declined to comment on it. Biden is facing growing pressure to drop his reelection bid following criticism of his poor performance in the debate.
Trump hasn’t explained how he believes he’ll bring an end to the war that’s now in its third year. Politico reported this week that he was considering a deal with Russia under which Nato would commit not to expand further east, including to Ukraine and Georgia, citing two national security experts aligned with the former president.
Putin said last month that Ukraine had to pull out of four eastern regions partly occupied by Russian forces as a condition for peace talks. Under his terms, immediately rejected by Kyiv and its US and European allies, Ukraine would also have to rule out ever joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Putin said in Astana that Russia would not declare a halt to fighting before Ukraine agreed to take “irreversible” steps demanded by Moscow, without specifying what those would be.
“A ceasefire without reaching such agreements is impossible,” he said.
The Russian president also ruled out a resumption of talks with the US on strategic stability until after the election. Russia must first “understand the moods and preferences of the future administration”, Putin said.
Separately, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it would be “very difficult to continue arming Ukraine” without US support.
“Will Europeans be able to continue supporting Ukraine militarily even if the US doesn’t?” Borrell said at a meeting in Madrid of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s certainly difficult but not impossible. But is there the political will? I have my doubts.”
EU warns Hungary’s Orbán against plan to visit Russia
European Council President Charles Michel warned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, not to speak with Russia on behalf of the European Union.
His warning followed reports that Orbán planned to visit Russia on his way to Azerbaijan, where he will participate in a meeting of Turkic states. Russia was preparing for a visit by the Hungarian leader, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU,” Michel said on Thursday in a post on X. He issued the public message after failing to reach Hungarian officials or confirm the trip, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Michel would have advised Orbán against visiting Moscow had he been asked, added the second person, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
EU diplomats have been concerned that Orbán, who has already met Putin since his invasion of Ukraine, would use his country’s EU presidency to undermine the bloc’s efforts to punish and isolate Moscow.
Read more: Orbán pushes ceasefire plan in Kyiv talks with Zelensky
The Hungarian leader pitched a ceasefire to Zelensky on Tuesday during his first visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Zelensky rejected the idea on the grounds that it would only serve Russia without guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.
Hungary assumed its six-month presidency of the EU on Monday, creating an opportunity for Orbán to elevate his diplomatic profile.
Ukraine retreats from part of strategic town as Russia advances
Ukrainian forces withdrew from a section of an embattled town in the eastern Donetsk region, a retreat from part of a strategic position that signalled a setback in the struggle to hold off Russia’s advance.
Military commanders ordered troops to pull out of a district in the town of Chasiv Yar after positions were destroyed, making them too dangerous to defend, said Nazar Voloshyn, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, in televised comments on Thursday.
Kyiv’s troops have sought to hold the town, some 55km north of the Russia-occupied city of Donetsk, after the Kremlin’s forces seized the nearby Bakhmut stronghold last year. Chasiv Yar is positioned on a hill, providing higher ground for artillery attacks.
Russia also advanced near Toretsk, more than 20km to the south from Chasiv Yar, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. There, Kremlin troops were seeking to gain control over a main road used by Ukrainian troops for supplies.
Putin pushes new China-aligned security order to challenge US
Putin laid out his proposal for a new Eurasian security architecture founded on Moscow’s deepening entente with Beijing to challenge the post-Cold War order in Europe dominated by the US and its allies.
Russia’s goal was to ensure “indivisible security and development to replace the outdated Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models which gave unilateral advantages to individual countries,” Putin said at a security summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday. “The result of this world order is well known — a growing number of crises around the world, one of which of course is Ukraine.”
Putin triggered Europe’s biggest conflict since World War 2 with his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He has repeatedly demanded that the government in Kyiv abandon its ambition of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has expanded since the start of the war after Finland and Sweden joined in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Putin spoke a day after holding talks in Astana with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who lauded ties with Russia and reaffirmed Beijing’s position on the invasion despite growing Western frustration over its perceived support for Moscow’s war efforts.
The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional group that took in Iran last year and added Russian ally Belarus to membership on Thursday, highlighted the growing ambitions of anti-US powers led by China and Russia.
Putin has set out few details of how his proposed new Eurasian security agreement would work. He told Russian Foreign Ministry officials last month that it would be open to “European and Nato countries as well,” though he made clear it would exclude the US.
Iranian central banker calls for closer financial ties with Russia
Iran’s central bank governor called for more financial cooperation with Russia while speaking at a conference in St Petersburg organised by Russian monetary policymakers.
The Russian and Iranian financial systems must “work together”, Governor Mohammad-Reza Farzin said on Thursday at the Bank of Russia’s Financial Congress. Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, who invited Farzin to the forum, listened from the front row during his talk.
Cooperation has been growing between the two countries’ central banks since the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Last May, Nabiullina visited Tehran, wearing a headscarf during her meetings. Farzin also travelled to Moscow in December 2023 and was warmly welcomed by Nabiullina.
During his talk, Farzin spoke about his country’s struggle with high inflation and the effect it was having on Iran’s economy. That mirrors similar efforts by Nabiullina to fight Russia’s own price growth, which is accelerating due to high levels of state spending on defence and social programmes. DM