The 50-day ultimatum that Donald Trump gave to Vladimir Putin before imposing heavy sanctions against Russia gives the Russian military a window of time, CNN reported.
According to information from American television, Russia may take advantage of it. Within days or weeks, Russia could launch a full-scale offensive into Ukraine with an army of 160,000 troops.
Trump’s nearly two-month-old ultimatum gives the Kremlin a chance to capitalize on the incremental gains of recent weeks that analysts say are increasingly putting key Ukrainian strongholds in the east at risk.
In the past two weeks, Russia has made small but vital progress, putting its forces in a better position to cut off Ukrainian troops in three key cities – Pokrovsk, Konstantinovka and Kupyansk – on the eastern front line.
The 50-day deadline also gives Russia ample time to devise its own alternative plan and once again outmaneuver Washington through diplomatic maneuvering.
The incremental progress Moscow has made around these three cities has come at a significant cost. But frontline mapping by DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring service, and reports from the region show how Russian forces are trying to encircle these Ukrainian bastions.
A Ukrainian military commander said that urgent reinforcements are needed there, otherwise Ukrainian forces risk a repeat of the encirclement and retreat seen in early 2024. around the town of Avdeevka.
When asked for comment on Donald Trump's statements about imposing possible secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian goods, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier today that Russia was continuing to analyze what the US president had said, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
So far, the Kremlin has reacted coldly to Trump's threats to Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Ukraine, saying that decisions made by the American leader and the NATO military alliance would be interpreted by Kiev as a signal to continue the war.
On Monday, during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, Trump announced that he would provide weapons to Kiev and gave Moscow 50 days to reach a ceasefire agreement or face sanctions and tariffs of about 100 percent, Reuters notes.
Putin has not yet publicly commented on the threats of Trump. Earlier today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Putin would comment if or when he himself deemed it necessary, Reuters notes.