Donald Trump is seen as “weak” and open to “manipulation”, a European intelligence source has told the Washington Post. His fixer is in Moscow for talks – but his actual Ukraine war envoy is seemingly ignored by the Kremlin. Follow the latest here.
false,Friday 14 March 2025 09:19, UK
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Donald Trump has long insisted he has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin.
And while their public statements have been relatively complimentary about the other, in private Moscow may have a different view of the man in the White House.
According to a report in the Washington Post, which cites a European intelligence official, Putin’s team believes Trump is weak, lacks principles and may be open to manipulation.
And if a permanent ceasefire is agreed, the official said Moscow will likely revert to “hybrid” or non-military means of undermining Ukraine.
“The 2022 invasion happened because the hybrid tools did not bring results,” the official said.
A reminder that Steve Witkoff – Trump’s Middle East envoy and a regular fixer for the president – is in Moscow for talks as we speak.
But as we reported earlier, the Kremlin seems to be ignoring Trump’s actual Ukraine war envoy (see 7.24 post).
A court in Finland has found a Russian man guilty of war crimes in eastern Ukraine.
Yan Petrovsky, who is also known as Voislav Torden, has been sentenced to life behind bars over five charges linked to his activities in the Luhansk region in 2014 and 2015.
Petrovsky, born in 1987, has been under EU and US sanctions since 2022.
His lawyer Heikki Lampela told the Helsinki court last December he denied all charges.
The trial marked a rare case of prosecutors outside Ukraine seeking justice for victims of alleged war crimes in a conflict that began before Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Ukraine appears to have had some success in attacks on Russian energy facilities overnight.
We reported earlier that a Russian governor said Kyiv hit an oil complex in Krasnodar in the south – see our 6.53 post.
Now, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service has told Reuters news agency they also struck gas compressor stations in Russia’s Tambov and Saratov regions.
The source added Ukrainian drones also struck a field depot for S-300/S-400 missiles in Russia’s Belgorod region.
The EU has already said it’s working on amassing as much financial support for Ukraine as it can.
Now, a document seen by Reuters news agency indicates the total military aid for this year alone should reach up to €40bn (£33.5bn).
That’s according to a discussion paper, in which the bloc’s diplomatic service suggests EU member states contribute to that figure “in line with its economic weight”.
A Russian drone attack has caused a fire at a hospital in northeastern Ukraine, according to the local governor.
Seven people were hurt in Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov said, with one woman also injured in the surrounding region.
The Ukrainian military said it shot down 16 out of 27 drones launched by Russia.
Nine didn’t reach their target, likely because of electronic countermeasures, it added.
It’s not clear what happened to the remaining two.
If you’ve been following our coverage, you’ll know Steve Witkoff is in Moscow now for talks on how to end the war.
But Witkoff’s initial brief, technically, isn’t Ukraine, it’s the Middle East – more on who he is and his role here.
He’s been a regular fixture in negotiations so far, which has made the absence of Donald Trump’s actual Ukraine war envoy all the more conspicuous.
According to our US partner network NBC News, Russia does not want Keith Kellogg involved in top-level discussions.
It’s not clear if Kellogg’s absence is linked to Russia’s request – and it isn’t clear when it was made – but a US official told NBC that it was not heeded.
Some high-ranking former Russian officials have complained Trump’s envoy is, in their view, too sympathetic to Kyiv.
A retired lieutenant general, Kellogg has at times been more critical of Russia than other officials have been.
For example, he sharply criticised Russia for a Christmas-time attack on Ukrainian population centres.
Nonetheless, Kellogg has consistently defended Trump’s positions on the Ukraine war, including the recent pause to some intelligence sharing.
National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt insisted Kellogg is playing a crucial role in bringing the war to an end.
“President Trump has utilised the talents of multiple senior administration officials to assist in the bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution,” he said.
Four attack drones flew to Moscow overnight, according to the city’s mayor.
Sergei Sobyanin said no injuries have been reported in the capital, and the drones were shot down.
Emergency services are “working at the site where debris came down”, he added.
He did not mention Ukraine, but Kyiv has launched a steady stream of drone attacks since Russia invaded three years ago, mostly targeting energy.
The governor of the wider Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov, meanwhile, said debris fell on a construction site and a residential building.
One of the drones also hit the roof of a multi-storey residential building, the RIA news agency reported, citing emergency services.
Oil complex blast
In a separate attack in Russia’s Krasnodar region, the local governor said a Ukrainian attack set a fuel tank on fire at the Tuapse oil complex.
Veniamin Kondratiev said nobody was hurt in the attack on the shores of the Black Sea.
Around 121 firefighters were on the scene, Kondratiev added, without saying if the site had been hit by a drone or a missile.
The Tuapse refinery, with a processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day, produces various types of fuel and mainly supplies China, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey.
The message from Moscow so far has been mostly negative about the idea of a ceasefire now – but it hasn’t been rejected outright.
Vladimir Putin said yesterday more work needs to be done, with “lots of questions” remaining around Washington’s plan for a 30-day pause.
Over in Canada, where G7 ministers are gathered, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas believes the Kremlin is most likely to agree a deal, but with conditions.
Speaking to Reuters news agency, she said the US has told the summit it understands Russia may be playing a game to extend the process.
Good morning and welcome back to our coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We’ll be bringing you updates throughout the day. But first, here’s all the key developments from the past 24 hours:
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