The Wall Street Journal:Rubio and Kellogg urges Trump to take a tougher stance on Moscow and Kremlin demands

Several senior aides to U.S. President Donald Trump are advising him to be more cautious about Moscow’s claims of seeking peace, pointing out that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has shown no real interest in ending the war.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal. According to the publication, a group that includes, according to officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. President’s special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, recommends that Trump be more careful in dealing with Putin and take a tougher stance on the Kremlin's demands for territorial concessions from Ukraine.

However, WSJ writes, citing officials, Trump continues to support special envoy Steve Witkoff, who claims that Putin wants to make peace after meeting with him in Moscow.

Nevertheless, the publication emphasizes, Russia has rejected the U.S. President’s call for a ceasefire and is stalling his efforts toward a partial halt in hostilities, trying to buy time, gain momentum on the battlefield, and secure maximum concessions at the negotiating table.

Trump, for his part, hopes to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, partly to remove one of the main obstacles to broader rapprochement with the Kremlin, WSJ writes. At times, the U.S. President has shown impatience with the Russian dictator, but his threat to impose new sanctions on Russian oil has yet to materialize.

WSJ also reports that even Trump’s advisers who advocate a tougher approach toward Moscow support his desire to end the war. However, Russia’s attack on Sumy on April 13, which killed more than thirty people and injured dozens, has highlighted divisions among Donald Trump's senior advisers.

On April 13, Donald Trump commented on the Russian missile strike on the city of Sumy, calling the Russian attack “a terrible thing.”

“I think it was terrible. I was told they made a mistake. But I think it’s a terrible thing. I believe the whole war is terrible,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on April 13, responding to a journalist’s question about Russia’s ballistic strike on civilians in Sumy.

When asked for clarification on whether he believed the Russian strike was “unintentional,” Trump replied: “They made a mistake.”