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Ukraine Invasion Day 1,180: Witkoff cancels 5th Moscow meeting and Krasnov will call Putin on Monday [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-17

Russian forces conducted a series of drone strikes against Ukraine overnight on May 16 and 17.

Trump says he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about ending the war.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 62 Shahed and decoy drones from the directions of Kursk and Oryol cities; Shatalovo, Smolensk Oblast; and occupied Hvardiiske, Crimea. [83] The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces downed 36 Shahed drones over northern, eastern, southern, western, and central Ukraine and that six drones were “lost in location.” Ukrainian official sources reported that Russian drones struck Sumy, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk oblasts.[84]

After head of the Russian delegation Medinsky hinted someone at the negotiating table would “lose a loved one,” Ukraine’s diplomat Sergiy Kyslytsya confirmed the death of his 23-year-old nephew Max.

x Witkoff cancels Moscow trip as Kremlin snubs 22-point US-Ukraine-European-backed ceasefire plan The cancellation halted what would have been Trump's envoy’s fifth meeting with Putin since February.

euromaidanpress.com/2025/05/17/f...



[image or embed] — Euromaidan Press (@euromaidanpress.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 9:38 AM

Russian officials told US special envoy Steve Witkoff on 8 May that President Vladimir Putin would not discuss a 22-point peace plan drawn up with Ukrainian and European input, according to Financial Times, citing three people briefed on the discussions. The message was delivered after a Russian cabinet meeting, leading Witkoff to postpone a planned meeting with Putin originally set for this week.

Putin later proposed direct talks in Istanbul. Zelenskyy accepted and urged Putin to attend, but the Russian president refused, sending a low-level delegation led by former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky.

The meeting on 10 May lasted less than two hours and resulted only in agreement on a prisoner-of-war swap, without any progress toward a ceasefire.

An unnamed senior Ukrainian official likened the standoff to “blackjack,” with Trump as the dealer. “Putin holds a strong but risky hand,” the official said, and if he draws one more card, he could go “bust.”

Russia's continued protraction of negotiations emphasizes its unwillingness to engage in good-faith negotiations for either a ceasefire or a final peace agreement. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on May 17 that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may meet only if the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reach unspecified agreements and underscored that all talks should be conducted behind closed doors.[7] Peskov's statements are likely intentionally vague in order to further delay progress in Russian-Ukrainian talks. Russian opposition outlet Verstka reported on May 17 that a source close to the Russian Presidential Administration stated the Kremlin viewed discussions between Putin and Zelensky as "out of the question" as Moscow knew that the conditions it was pushing Ukraine to accept were non-starters for Kyiv.[8] Another Verstka source close to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) similarly stated that Russian officials do not plan to discuss preparations for a Putin-Zelensky meeting. Russia has doubled down on its efforts to protract peace processes by continuing to present Ukraine with ultimatums that Ukraine cannot accept. The Verstka source close to the Presidential Administration added that Russia's demand that the Ukrainian–Russian talks occur without a mediator shows that the Kremlin seeks to demonstrate that it is capable of demanding that the United States limit the influence of Ukraine's Western partners. Peskov's comments and Verstka's report cohere with ISW's long-standing assessment that Russia remains committed to prolonging peace negotiations so as to continue making battlefield advances and to extract additional concessions from the West.[9] Ukraine has continually demonstrated its willingness to compromise and engage in good-faith negotiations in contrast.

www.understandingwar.org/...

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