CIA Director and former US Ambassador to Russia William Burns went on a secret trip to Ukraine at the end of June to discuss plans according to which cease-fire negotiations with Russia could be reopened by the end of the year, The Washington Post reports, citing officials familiar with the matter.
Burns’ trip, which has not been reported on in the past, included meetings with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country’s top intelligence officials. The trip occurred just before the attempted rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia. Although the CIA knew about Prigozhin’s plans, they were not discussed during the meeting with Zelensky, WP notes.
According to three sources, Ukraine’s plans rely on the Ukrainian Armed Forces taking back control over a significant part of the country by autumn 2023, moving artillery and missile systems near the border of Russian-occupied Crimea, and pushing further into the east of the country; that would lead to negotiations reopening with Moscow for the first time since March 2022.
“Russia will only negotiate if it feels threatened,” WP quotes a senior Ukrainian official.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia have commented on the information presented in the article yet.