Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin must face ceasefire red lines, Estonia warns amid fury at Moscow’s delays

European officials have called for “red lines” in terms of a timetable for when it comes to a Ukraine ceasefire

Estonia’s foreign minister said on Friday that Vladimir Putin is “asking more and he is not asking only more about Ukraine. He’s just putting new conditions on the table”.

He added as he arrived at a Nato meeting in Brussels: “There must be some kind of red lines on the timetable.”

He is the latest figure to call for such measures in recent days.

Poland and Canada have also called for a deadline for Russia to accept a deal.

Russia seeking to use ongoing peace negotiations to “seize large amounts of territory in Ukraine,” a war-monitoring think tank says.

US based analysts The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Moscow is hoping to leverage ceasefire talks to install a pro-Russian puppet government in Kyiv, and is likely to continue military operations in Ukraine if it is not able to secure “full surrender” through the talks.

It cited the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) which stated “Russia is leveraging its control of the theater-wide initiative and ongoing political and information efforts amid negotiations to end the war in Ukraine to achieve significant concessions from Ukraine and the West.”

It said the ODNI report also assessed that Putin is “probably” more willing to incur the risks of a longer war than to agree to an end to the war that is unfavorable to Russia.

European foreign ministers have blamed Russia for thwarting a push for peace in the Ukraine war.

Putin “continues to obfuscate, continues to drag his feet,” British foreign minister David Lammy said on Friday ahead of the second day of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers.

“He could accept a ceasefire now, he continues to bombard Ukraine, its civilian population, its energy supplies. We see you, Vladimir Putin, we know what you are doing,” Lammy said.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Putin’s talk of negotiations was “nothing but empty promises” and accused the Russian leader of “playing for time by raising ever new demands”.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Moscow “owes an answer to the United States, that have worked very hard to come up with a mediation effort and a ceasefire proposal.”

“It has to be yes. It has to be no. It has to be a quick answer,” he said.

French and British army chiefs are set to meet in Kyiv on Friday as plans for a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ peacekeeping force develop.

“There will be at some point a need for military capacity or reassurance, whenever peace is reached. And this is the reason why our army chiefs will be in Kyiv today in order to advance this work,” French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels, AFP reported.

Also speaking in Brussels as he arrived at Nato headquarters, David Lammy also said Russian president Vladimir Putin should accept the proposed ceasefire with Ukraine now but he “continues to drag his feet”.

Lammy added that it had been important to hear from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that the Americans remain committed to NATO.

At least four people have been killed after Russia launched an overnight attack on the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Regional authorities said 35 people, including three children, had been injured in the northeastern city in the fourth such strike on the city so far this week.

Rescue teams sifted through rubble throughout the night after Russian drones hit residential quarters, damaging several multi-storey apartment blocks and causing multiple fires.

“As of this morning, unfortunately, there are already four dead. The body of one more person killed by the Russian aggressor has been (removed) from the rubble,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. “We also have 35 wounded.”